Tortured Truth
by Darth Frodo
Summary: Danny's parents discover that the ghost boy is half human. Now that they've captured Danny, will he submit to torture and reveal himself, or is the revelation just the beginning of their problems?
1. The Mystery of the Goo

A/N This is my first fanfic, so sorry if I'm not doing everything exactly right. I'm still trying to learn how to post and navigate around this site. I hope you enjoy this, and I'm sorry it's so short. I promise to update soon!

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom and I won't for the rest of the story, soI won't be repeating this again.**

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**Tortured Truth**

Chapter One  
The Mystery of the Goo

"Man, I can't believe Lancer's giving us a pop test! I barely have time to do everything else, let alone cram tonight!"

"Relax Danny, it's going to be fine," Sam comforted.

"How can it be fine? There are ghost's popping out left and right, my parent's just grounded me for my bad grades, I have to do all my chores, and now we have a major test tomorrow that if I don't do well on my parent's will ground me for eternity!"

"Well then, I guess you're screwed," Tucker joked.

"Thanks."

They rounded the corner to Danny's house and stopped in front of the door.

"Danny, do you want us to help?" Sam offered.

"No, I've got it. My parents aren't home, so the chores should go really fast. Plus, I'm not allowed to have friends over while I'm grounded."

"Yes, but since your parents aren't home, they'll never know. Plus, two more people will make things go faster."

"I guess you're right. Just let me make sure no one's in the house before I let you in."

He entered and found, to his dismay, that the house was covered in green goo. He found a note laying on the television, the only thing not coated in goo. The note read:

Danny,  
Sorry about the mess. One of our ghost weapons went haywire and sprayed goo everywhere. We had to run out to work before we could clean it, so please be a dear and clean up the mess for us in addition to your regular chores. If you do, you will no longer be grounded. Think about it, a week of grounding gone just for cleaning the goo! We'll be home at about 6:30, which should give you three hours; that should be more than enough time. Jazz won't be home until about 7, so she won't be able to help.

Love,  
Mom and Dad

Danny opened the door outside and signaled to his friends that the coast was clear.

"Don't worry about the goo. I'll take care of that."

"What happened?" Tucker asked in disbelief.

"My parents had an accident with one of their inventions. Go figure. But they said that if I clean it up, I won't be grounded anymore, so I figure it's worth it. They also won't be back until 6:30 and Jazz won't be home until 7, so we have plenty of time to get this done."

"What do you want us to do?" Sam asked.

"If you guys could start on the dishes, that would be great."

"We're on it," they both replied as they headed into the kitchen.

"Alright, time to take care of this goo," he stated. A white ring of light formed around his waist and traveled up and down his body, transforming him into the ghost form of himself dressed in a black body suit with silver accents. His eyes turned green and his hair turned white. He looked down at the goo, wondering how best to take care of it.

"A towel would probably work," he thought as he flew into the kitchen, going intangible as he stuck his head and torso through the wall. "Hey, throw me a towel please."

Tucker tossed him a spare towel.

"Thanks, how's it going?"

"Alright, we've got a system. You?" Tucker replied.

"Just starting. I've been trying to figure out how best to get rid of it."

"Have fun."

"Thanks."

Danny flew back into the living room and started wiping up the goo with the towel. He could tell this was going to take a long time, since the towel seemed to be getting soaked up pretty quickly and he had barely cleaned a spot. There had to be a better way than this.

Before Danny could figure out what this better solution was, a white hot burning sensation shot through his hand, the pain growing in magnitude. Danny screamed as he grabbed his hand in pain and fell to the floor. The burning wouldn't stop.

Sam and Tucker ran over to Danny and bent over him, trying to figure out what was happening.

"Danny, what's wrong?" Sam asked worriedly.

Danny tried to answer but then he felt his back burst into the white hot pain as well. He screamed louder, the pain was becoming unbearable.

"What do we do?" Tucker asked in panic.

"I don't know!" Sam answered hysterically.

They stood, lost for a moment in frantic thought, trying to find the cause of Danny's pain.

"The goo," Sam muttered. "Tucker it's the goo!"

"Well let's get it off him then!"

The two of them easily lifted Danny and ran to the bathroom where they threw him in the tub. They turned the shower on and ran the cold water over his hand. The goo had eaten away his glove and Sam and Tucker could see that the exposed skin was red and raw.

"Flip him over," Sam commanded. "He probably laid in some."

Sure enough, when they flipped him over they saw the same raw skin. It looked like the goo was trying to eat through his skin.

Danny had stopped screaming. The pain was still there, but not as bad now that the goo had stopped eating away his skin. He summoned the energy to transform, hoping the pain would decrease if he wasn't a ghost. Then he shut his eyes and drifted out of consciousness.

"C'mon, let's put him in his bed," Tucker suggested.

They lifted him out of the tub and carried him into his room and laid him gently on his bed. He rolled his head towards them and opened his eyes slightly.

"Thanks," he was able to mutter.

"Don't worry about it. Just rest."

He closed his eyes and again lost consciousness, left in nothing but blackness where he felt no pain.

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A/N: Don't worry, all the action will be coming next chapter. Please review if you so choose and if you really must flame, then so be it. 


	2. The Torture

A/N: So, here's the next chapter, as promised. I figured I'd put it up sooner due to the shortness of the previous chapter and since this is where all the action begins.

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Chapter Two  
The Torture

Danny opened his eyes. He felt no immediate rush of pain. He lifted his hand and looked at it. It looked completely fine, the rash had gone away. He wiggled his fingers, noticing that it was sore and stiff, but he could still manage. He sat up and discovered that his back was sore as well, but not as bad as he had thought. The remnants of the pain still remained, but it wasn't as bad as what he'd faced before. He looked at his clock, noticing with a jolt that it was already a quarter after six. He had only fifteen more minutes to clean the house before his parents got home. He flung himself out of bed and ran down the stairs, flinching at the pain in his back. He stopped dead at the bottom of the stairs. The house was clean and the goo was gone. He walked slowly through the house, wondering what happened. He then saw Sam and Tucker sitting in front of the television, arguing over some superhero show.

"Superman has super strength, he can fly, he can shoot stuff out of his eyes, and he's invincible! He's way better than Batman!" Tucker argued heatedly.

"Yes, but Batman's smart and he doesn't go all weak if there's some stupid rock nearby," Sam retorted back. "Batman uses his brains and technology to fight, so he's clearly better than Superman."

"Only in your dreams. You just like him because he dresses all in black."

"Sorry to break up the argument, but what happened here?" Danny asked, puzzled.

Sam and Tucker turned towards him, surprised to see him awake.

"Danny, what are you doing down here? You should be asleep, or at least resting," Sam advised.

"Relax, I'm fine. I'm just a little sore. But what happened here? Where did all the goo go?"

"We cleaned it. We didn't know how long you'd be out, so we decided to just take care of everything," Tucker explained.

"Plus, we didn't think you should touch that goo again. We found the actual weapon, or at least what's left of it, and the box your parents were planning to put it in. It said that the goo was meant to burn through a ghost's skin."

"Yeah, that's what it felt like. I should just learn not to touch anything my parents make anymore. They're actually finally learning to get stuff right. Speaking of my parents, you guys should probably go. Thanks for all your help. I owe you one."

"No you don't. This was just in return for saving our lives almost everyday," Sam reasoned.

"Good luck on your studying," Tucker offered.

"The test! I totally forgot! Man, this day just gets worse and worse! I'll talk to you guys later."

"See ya Danny."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Sam asked as the walked out the front door.

"Fine. I've been hurt worse than this before."

Danny watched as his friends walked down the street. He shut and locked the door as he headed towards his room, prepared to study for the rest of the night. Just as he started heading up the stairs, his ghost sense went off.

"Not again! I'm never going to get a chance to study!" He transformed into his ghost form, noticing that his hand and back hurt even more as a ghost. He pulled his glove back to see that his hand was red and raw. It obviously only showed up in his ghost form, and it was definitely more sensitive to the touch he noticed as he gently pulled his glove back on with a wince.

He flew down into the basement to find the Box Ghost.

"Why do you always show up when I'm busy with other stuff!"

"I am the Box Ghost, fear me! I have come to control your box shaped dominion with the use of my army of boxes!"

"You've got to be kidding me."

The Box Ghost raised his arms and an army of boxes rose out of his dad's pile of spare boxes.

"I knew he should have gotten rid of those boxes," Danny muttered as he went intangible as the boxes flew towards him. He started shooting ecto-blasts at them. The boxes flew quickly around the room, breaking lab equipment and knocking things over. Danny had a hard time hitting them they were moving around the room so quickly, which resulted in many holes in the walls and floor. One of the boxes hit his injured hand while he shot an ecto-blast at another box and he screamed in pain as he grabbed his hand. The rest of the boxes flew towards him, pummeling him as he comforted his injured hand.

He turned intangible and flew towards the Box Ghost as the remaining boxes flew after him. He turned around and shot a large ecto-blast at the boxes, disintegrating all of them. He charged at the Box Ghost and punched him into the Ghost Zone. He shut the door and locked the portal, glad his weekly fight with the Box Ghost had ended. Just as he was about to turn back his parents thundered down the stairs in full ghost hunting uniform.

"I thought I heard you down here Ghost Boy!" Jack yelled as he pointed a weapon at Danny.

"No, you don't understand…it's not what you think!"

"Oh it's exactly what I think! You were trying to destroy my lab."

"No, I promise, I was just…" Danny tried to reason.

"Well not today!" Jack yelled and launched the weapon at Danny. He went intangible, but the weapon still caught him and trapped him in a bubble.

"Nice shot honey," his mother said.

"Thanks dear."

Danny tried to phase through the ball, but nothing happened.

"That's a new special material we've just designed. It traps ghosts without allowing them to phase through it. Now we've got you."

"What do you want?" Danny asked, slightly concerned. They were getting better.

"We've been waiting a long time for this moment Ghost Boy," Jack remarked in awe.

"And, what moment might that be?" Danny replied smartly.

"The day we finally capture you. My entire life has led up to this moment. Everything I've ever done has been for this moment."

"I find that hard to believe since you only met me seven months ago," Danny smirked.

"Yes…well…that's beside the point! The point is that we know you're half human Ghost Boy."

Danny felt like he'd hit a brick wall. _How could they know? How could they possibly know? This has got to be one of the worst days of my life._

"What do you mean half human? How can I be half human? I'm a ghost!" Danny argued.

"Don't play stupid with us," his mother warned. "After the battle last week one of our weapons cut your arm and you bled all over the street before you could get away."

Danny remembered that battle. That was the day when Danny realized that his parents were serious about hunting him. Before that day they hadn't done any damage to him, but that day, they really hurt him. The cut had run deep and hurt like crazy. It was after that day that all his parents' inventions suddenly started working a lot better than usual…

"Well, we took a sample of your blood and examined it, and we found _red_ human blood inside it," Maddie continued.

_Crap. I've been beaten by science. How am I supposed to refute this?_

"So what does that mean?"

"It means that you have human blood mixed with the ectoplasm that ghost's are made out of. We've examined other ghost's blood and haven't found any trace of human blood with it. This proves that you're half human. And those rings that form around your waste sometimes when you get tired, that's you reverting back to your human self. I've seen jeans and a t-shirt."

_Crap._ He never knew they'd seen so much. There was no way he could refute this, and they knew it.

"Alright fine. I'm half human, but what difference does it make? You're obviously still hunting me."

"I knew it!" Jack yelled.

"Jack dear, we already knew that," she informed her husband. She turned her attention towards Danny. "What we don't know is how."

"You think I know? You're the ghost experts, I'm just an ignorantteenager. How'm I supposed to know?"

"Did you ever die?" Jack asked.

"No," Danny answered truthfully.

"So then how did you get the ghost abilities?"

"I told you I don't know! There was this accident and then I got ghost powers."

"He must have only half died," Maddie reasoned to Jack.

"But still that doesn't necessarily give him ghost powers. He must have come in contact with some ghost energy or something."

They were getting too close. He needed to throw them off track.

"So, now that you got your information, can you let me go?"

"Oh no, we can't do that," Jack answered.

"Why not?"

"Well, do you really think we'll set you free so you can go harm more innocent people?" Maddie asked.

"And plus, we're not finished with you yet. Since you're half human, you obviously have a human persona. So who are you?" Jack questioned.

Danny would have laughed had he not been in an escape proof bubble in his parents' lab. Did they honestly think he would give them his identity?

"You actually think I'm going to tell you?"

"Listen, you're probably a teenager, which means you probably go to school with my children, which means they're in an awful amount of danger. Now, you tell me who you really are so I can remove you from school and keep my children safe," Jack demanded.

"Or so you can hunt me down twenty-four seven."

"That too," Jack admitted. "But that's beside the point! Tell me now!"

"And what if I refuse to give you my identity?"

"Then we'll just have to force it out of you. I promise you Ghost Boy, when it comes to the safety of my family, I stop at nothing."

This was the worst day of his life.

"You…you can't. You wouldn't," Danny desperately tried to reason. But in his heart, he knew they would. For the first time in a while, he actually felt scared. In his parents' demented minds, their family was in danger and they only way to save them would be to find the identity of their most hated enemy. There was no real reason why they wouldn't. He had to get out.

"Watch me."

Jack carried the ball to a corner of the lab where a large sheet draped over a tall object. How come he'd never noticed this before? He pulled it away to reveal a lighted table with three curved pillars forming the outline of a sphere. He placed the ball inside the pillars while his mom fiddled with the controls and the arms lowered, resting themselves on the bubble. Danny started hitting the walls of the bubble, tried shooting ecto-blasts, tried phasing through it. Nothing worked. He was trapped and was about to be tortured by his own parents.

"This is your last chance Ghost Boy. In a matter of seconds we're going to turn on the machine, which will then shoot electric pulses up the pillars and into your bubble. Now these pulses are only felt by ghosts, so if you transform into your human form, they won't hurt anymore. Tell us your name, and we'll save you the trouble."

"You don't understand. You don't want to do this," Danny tried to reason with them, but he knew it wouldn't work.

"Trust me, I do. Now, what is your name?" Jack demanded angrily.

"I can't tell you. It'll ruin everything. You don't want to know, trust me!"

"If that's your choice…" he stated. He held his hand over the button and looked at Danny, disregarding his pleas. His face was resolute as he stared at Danny's pleading face, his bright green eyes large with fright.

He pushed the button.

Purple electric charges shot through the pillars and into the bubble. Danny formed an ecto-shield around him, hoping it would prevent the oncoming pain, but the electric charges penetrated straight through the shield and into him. Pain shot through his body and he screamed. The shield fell, his energy drained on contact from the charges. He couldn't bear the pain. It was worse than the goo, worse than anything he'd ever felt. His skin was on fire, his brain felt like jelly. The electric pulse circulated through his blood stream, through his nerves. It cramped his muscles and lingered in his bones. He felt like the pulses were frying his insides.

He could tell his parents wanted to watch his torture, probably relishing in the knowledge they were causing their enemy such pain. They would occasionally turn their heads when he let out a particularly loud scream or convulsed into odd angles and positions as the electric pulses haywired his body, but then they'd face the bubble again, staring at him, watching him as he never stopped screaming, the pain too unbearable.

"Ghost Boy, have you given up yet? Transform and the pain will end," Jack bargained.

He wanted to transform, to end the pain, but he couldn't. He had long since decided that his ghost powers were something his parents never needed to learn about, and he wanted to keep it that way, especially after the past week, and what they were doing to him right now. They had to eventually stop; they couldn't keep it going forever. They'll stop it eventually, they have to.

Danny had no record of how much time was passing. To him it seemed like eternity. He couldn't keep his thoughts straight anymore; his head was so full of pain. His body kept trying to change back, lacking the energy to stay in ghost mode, but Danny had to stop the urge. He could feel it coming again; he could feel himself changing back. The white ring appeared around his waist.

"That's it Ghost Boy, just transform and the pain will be over soon," Jack goaded.

He felt the rings start to separate and move up his body, but he summed up his strength and forced the ring to disappear.

"Why do you keep trying? Just let us know your identity and the pain will end!" his mother yelled. She was no longer watching. Her head was buried in Jack's shoulder, unable to watch the torture.

He wanted to respond, to say that he couldn't, but he couldn't string words together anymore. He just continued to scream.

He heard fast footsteps run down the steps. Jazz must be home and must have heard the screaming. Maybe she'd stop the machine, knock some sense into them. He always thought she didn't hate the Ghost Boy as much as their parents.

"What's going…" Jazz started to say as she beheld the disturbing sight. Her face was a mask of fright, horror, and panic. "What are you doing?" she demanded angrily.

"We just found out the Ghost Boy's half human so we're trying to get his identity."

"Stop! Can't you see it's hurting him? Stop!"

"Once he transforms."

"Please stop! You don't understand what you're doing! Please stop this!"

"Not until he transforms."

"You have to! Trust me when I say you have to! You don't know what you're doing!" She ran towards the controls, preparing to smash them when her father grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back as she screamed in anger.

"No! You have to let me stop it! You don't know what you're doing!" Jazz screamed as she kicked and fought back.

Danny could feel himself fading. He had barely any strength left. The urge to transform was starting, and he wouldn't have enough energy to stop it this time. He had barely enough energy to remain conscious.

"We know perfectly well what we're doing Jazmine. We're doing this for you and Danny, so we can keep you safe. This boy goes to your school, everyone there, including you and Danny, is in danger."

The ring formed around his waste and started traveling up his body. He couldn't stop it.

"But that _is_ Danny!" Jazz yelled as she broke free from her father's grasp, as his attention was occupied by the sudden transformation of the Ghost Boy into his son. She ran towards the machine, trying to find a way to get to him.

"No, it can't be…" Maddiebreathed as Jazz ran into the bubble and lifted Danny's head into her arms. He opened his china blue eyes slightly.

"Jazz?" he asked faintly.

"I'm here Danny, don't worry."

"So much pain," he managed to mumble. "So much pain," he muttered again as he shut his eyes and fell into darkness.

"Danny? Please be alright, please," Jazz begged, tears streaming down her already tear stained face. She lifted him into her arms and carried him out of the bubble, his body limp with a very soft pulse. His face was pale, like he was still in his ghost form. She walked past her parents, who just stared at Danny, a look of horror on their faces.

"Danny!" Maddie yelled as she ran towards him, but Jazz pulled him out of her reach.

"Don't even think about touching him, after what you did."

"We didn't know…" Maddie began, tears falling from her eyes.

Jazz turned around. "I told you," she thundered, stressing every syllable with anger, looking at them with disgust. "I told you that you didn't know what you were doing. I told you that you didn't have a clue what was going on, that you didn't understand. But would you listen, no! Look where your ghost hunting obsession has brought us! Look at Danny! Look what it did to him! Look what _you_ did to him! And all this for his safety, hah! Well it sure kept him safe! I hope you're happy, I really do. I hope that the pain he went through was worth something to you. Do you still believe he's a danger to the other students? Do you still want to throw him out of the school? Maybe we can throw him out of the state altogether and find him a better home away from abusive parents!"

She stormed out of the basement and up to Danny's room where she laid him softly in bed. She pulled the covers over his body and pulled up a chair next to his bed and placed a warm cloth on his frigid forehead.

Mr. and Mrs. Fenton stood outside the door, looking in on Danny. Jazz noticed them outside and rose to shut the door to Danny's room, leaving them to stare at a locked door. Then she buried her face into Danny's arm and sobbed.

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	3. Searching for a Cure

A/N: Thanks so much for all the flattering reviews! I can't even begin to tell you how much I appreciated them! Now I feel really bad that this chapter is so short, but it couldn't be helped. This was a good stopping point for now and plus the next chapter is really long and I didn't want to break that chapter up. But don't worry, there won't be that long of a break in between this chapter and the next chapter!

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Chapter Three  
Searching for a Cure

Jazz remained next to Danny's bed for hours, not knowing what to do. Should she take him to the hospital? Probably not. They'd ask too many questions, and who knows what her lunatic parents actually did to him. They probably wouldn't be able to help him anyways.

Then Jazz got an idea. Tucker and Sam. They knew about his secret, maybe they could help.

"I'll be right back Danny, I promise. I'm going to get your friends. Just keep fighting; you're going to be fine. You have to be." She stood up and kissed his forehead before sneaking out the window.

She ran to Sam's house, which was closest. She realized it was probably late at night, but she didn't care. She ran to the door and knocked desperately, hoping they would answer.

A butler opened the door and looked downat Jazz in disdain. "How may I help you?"

"I need to talk to Sam," she breathed as she clutched her side.

"Ms. Manson is asleep at the moment. May I take a message, or will you return at a more decent hour."

"No I will not leave a message and no I won't return later! This is an emergency! Her friend is in trouble!"

"I'm sorry, but she's asleep and I will not disturb her. You and your 'emergency' will have to wait until later."

"Please, you don't understand! He needs her help!"

"I'm sorry Miss," he concluded as he started shutting the door.

"Barnaby, what's going on?" Sam demanded as she walked down the steps. She heard pounding and wailing outside the door.

"Some desperate young lady asking for you Miss. But don't worry, I sent her away."

"Who?" More pounds emerged from the door.

"I do not know Miss, just some lady claiming she needed to speak to you, said it was an emergency. I informed her you were asleep and it could wait until the morning."

"Well if it's an emergency it obviously can't wait!" Sam yelled as she ran to open the door, hoping it wasn't something to do with Danny. Her face fell when she opened it to find Jazz, her eyes red and swollen, mascara running down her face.

"Jazz, what's wrong?" she asked shakily. Maybe it had nothing to do with Danny. Maybe she was just in a bad mood and needed to talk to another girl.

"Danny…he's hurt." Never mind. So much for the wishful thinking.

Sam turned towards the butler. "Barnaby, leave us!" she commanded and turned back towards Jazz.

"What about Danny? Is he in trouble?"

"He's hurt, really bad. Listen, I know about his secret, I've known for a long time. And my parents, oh my God my parents! They found out the Ghost Boy was half human and they wanted to find his identity. So they captured him and they…they tortured him!" Jazz wailed as she broke down and sobbed. Sam brought her into the parlor and sat her down on the couch.

"What do you mean Jazz? Talk to me," she demanded, her voice shaking with worry. She'd never seen Jazz so broken, so desolate.

"They put him in a bubble and electrocuted him with some special pulse that would only hurt ghosts," she managed to mutter through the sobs. "And the screams! I could hear them all through the house! I ran downstairs to see what was going on, and I saw him, lying on the floor of the bubble. It was horrible! His body was twitching and he wouldn't stop screaming! I tried to get them to stop, but they wouldn't listen!" Jazz continued to say through the sobs.

"What happened next?"

"He had transformed back into himself when I finally reached him. I picked up his head and he opened his eyes and said my name. Then he fell out of consciousness."

"Is he alright? Jazz, is Danny okay?" Sam asked, tears falling from her eyes.

"He's still alive, but just barely. His pulse was so soft I could barely feel it when I carried him to his bed. He's still out and he's frigid. I don't know what to do!" Jazz wailed in misery as she buried her head into Sam's chest and sobbed.

"I'll call Tucker, explain everything to him and tell him to meet us at your house. Then you and I can head there and see if there's anything we can do."

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Back at the house, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton sat in their bed, cuddling each other, both devoid of emotion, for all their emotions were just too powerful for them to express only one. They felt angry at themselves for what they did, ashamed for torturing their son, confused at what had just happened. 

"We're horrible parents. What have we done?" Maddie asked.

"We didn't know Maddie, there's no way we could have known."

"I know, but that doesn't make me feel any better," she yelled through the sobs "and it certainly doesn't take back what we've done! Danny's unconscious and in horrible pain and Jazz believes we're abusive parents and won't let us anywhere near him!"

"We are abusive parents," Jack admitted softly. "We tortured our only son almost to death."

The two of them sat silently, trying to work out what happened in their brains, trying to find ways to comfort the other without any way to comfort themselves.

"I never meant for this to happen. Torturing the Ghost Boy was supposed to protect our family, not break it," Jack remarked sadly.

"Why didn't he tell us? Jazz knew, she must have. Why did he tell her and not us? Why didn't he trust us?"

"Because we're ghost hunters dear, and he's…part ghost."

"But doesn't he know that wouldn't matter?"

"I don't know."

"I just can't believe it, our son…is half ghost. But how did this happen? How did he become half ghost?"

"I don't know dear. All I know is that I can't stand sitting here when our boy's in pain."

"But what are we going to do? Jazz won't let us anywhere near him, and for good reason."

"We'll go down to the basement, tear down the machine, and somehow find a cure, something to make him feel better. Something that would help ghosts instead of injure them. I don't care if I have to spend over 48 hours straight on finding it. Are you with me?"

"If it'll help Danny, then yes." The two of them marched downstairs and got straight to work, trying to find a way to help their injured son.

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Sam and Jazz met up with Tucker below Danny's window who, like Sam, was still dressed in his pajamas. His parents were just as angry at receiving the late call, but didn't gripe about waking Tucker up, since they were up anyways. 

They climbed up the tree outside to Danny's window and crept inside. They saw Danny lying on the bed in the same position Jazz placed him in, his face deathly pale, his chest moving slowly up and down.

"Danny," Sam muttered as she ran to his side and took his hand, tears welling up in her eyes at the sight of him, the calm state of mind she had been trying to keep shattering as she saw him lying helpless in bed. "We're here now Danny, everything's going to be alright."

Tucker kneeled next to Sam and took his hand as well. "Don't worry. You'll be alright. You can make it through this. You always do."

Jazz brought them two more chairs and they sat down as Jazz returned to her original position.

There the three of them sat all night, tears falling from their eyes as they comforted Danny, staying awake all night and into the morning.

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	4. Trust

A/N: Alright, as promised, here's the next chapter. Sorry again that the last one was so short! Don't worry, this one is plenty long and should make up for what the previous chapter lacked. Thanks again for the reviews! I feel really touched that you all like it so much!

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Chapter Four  
Trust

Danny opened his eyes and found himself in his room, tucked warmly into his bed. He looked to his left and noticed Jazz holding his hand, staring out the window. To his right were Tucker and Sam. Tucker's head rested on Danny's legs and Sam was staring at his other hand.

"Danny! You're awake!" Jazz screamed as she noticed his eyes were open. Sam's head popped up and Tucker awoke. Jazz bent over and kissed him on the forehead in delight as she started to cry for joy. "I was afraid we'd lost you."

"We were so worried!" Sam exclaimed as she hugged him. Danny let out gasps of pain from the contact. "Sorry, I'm so sorry!"

"It's alright," he managed to mutter.

"Welcome back Danny," Tucker said, squeezing Danny's hand slightly as Danny returned the squeeze.

He tried to shift his weight in the bed, but he found he could barely move without a sharp pain shooting up his body. He grimaced as he returned to his original position. Even lying down still hurt. His entire body ached, both to movement and to touch. His skin felt on fire as white hot pain continued to stab him all over his aching body. Every time he took a breath his chest burned. Every second he felt the sharp sensation of pain. He wished he stayed unconscious, that way he wouldn't have to feel the agony he was suffering through. He constantly felt like he would cry out or scream in anguish, praying that the pain would cease, that he would fall unconscious, that he would die.

"You shouldn't try to move Danny. You just need to rest," his sister advised. Danny just groaned in torment as tears poured from his eyes.

"Man Danny, you've been having a really bad day, what with the goo incident and all," Tucker stated, trying to lighten the mood.

"What goo incident?" Jazz asked protectively.

"Your parents had a new invention that shot out goo that would burn through ghosts' skin, and they told Danny he had to clean it up," Tucker answered.

Jazz and Danny both looked down and fell silent at the mention of their parents.

"Sorry, I didn't mean…" Tucker apologized.

"Don't worry about it," Danny managed to mutter softly..

"Are you hot? Cold? Hungry? Thirsty? Do you need me to get you anything?" Jazz offered, trying to change the subject.

"No, I'm fine thanks."

They all sat in silence, not really knowing what to say.

"Where are they?" Danny asked.

"I don't know, and frankly I don't care," Jazz answered bitterly.

"What happened…after I blacked out? Are they mad?"

"I really wouldn't know. I didn't stay there long enough to find out. I yelled at them for their sheer stupidity and cruelty, and then I ran up here and slammed the door in their face and haven't seen them since," Jazz remarked as tears fell down her face.

Another silence filled the room while Tucker and Sam felt more and more like they didn't want to be there.

They heard a loud blast erupt from the basement and heard a faint "Eureka!"

"I don't believe them!" Jazz yelled as she stood up forcefully. "After what they just did they go back to work? I can't believe this! I thought they were huddled somewhere wallowing in shame and misery for what they did, but they just get back to work like nothing happened! The nerve of them! How can they do this?"

Danny wanted to reply that maybe they needed to keep their minds busy with the only thing they knew how to do, but he didn't really feel like sticking up for them right now. After all, they'd just tortured him. Unknowingly of course, but still, the fact that his parents were the cause of all the horrible pain he experienced, and was still experiencing, stung him deeply.

Jazz continued to rant at the audacity of their parents while Danny continued to think. He was torn on the subject. Obviously they didn't know that when they tortured the Ghost Boy they were in reality torturing him, but none of this would have happened if they didn't want the identity of the Ghost Boy in the first place. He wanted to give his parents the benefit of the doubt, to give them another chance, since they were his parents after all, but he just felt too hurt to defend them. He knew he should be angry at them like Jazz was, but he only felt the pain in his heart.

His own parents had tortured him. It was so hard to grasp. He wished it was all just a dream, that it had never happened, but the constant pain told him it did. And now his parents knew about him, like he'd always feared. All that torture and pain was for naught; they found out anyways. Now what were they going to do, now that they learned of his alter-ego? The thought that had haunted him since he first got his powers crept unwelcome into his mind. What if they didn't accept him? What if they were making a weapon right now that would finish him off now that he was weakened? What if they were angry at him? What if they no longer loved him?

His mind was jumbled with questions he had no answers to. After all that had happened he could still love his parents, but the real question was whether his parents could still love him? Tears of sadness rather than pain fell from his bright blue eyes as he thought of a world without his parents love. These thoughts and feelings were the reasons why he didn't want his parents to find out in the first place. They were so powerful that he didn't falter during the torture and tried so hard to stay in his ghost form. He always hoped they would never know, but a part of him realized that they eventually had to. He couldn't keep it a secret forever. But still, what was going to happen once they did? He didn't want to be forced to live a life without their love, a life without them.

"Danny, are you alright?" Sam asked, seeing the tears streaming down his face.

"What if my parents don't love me anymore? What if all the things I've feared come true? What am I supposed to do? What's going to happen to our family?"

Jazz stopped her ranting and sat back down next to Danny and held his hand. "Danny, I know that everything is really crazy right now. I'm just as mad at them as you are, but I don't think you have anything to worry about. As much as they hate ghosts and enjoy ghost hunting, they'll never stop loving you. When they saw what they did, their faces were full of disbelief. Probably mostly because they found out you were part ghost, but they just couldn't believe what they had done. They looked ashamed, which they never would have looked if they didn't love you."

"Yes, but I'm the Ghost Boy, Public Ghost Enemy Number One in their books!"

"That won't matter to them. You're their son, first and foremost. Everything else comes second.

"Now, all this doesn't change the fact that what they did was horrible, stupid, wrong, and cruel and they deserve every ounce of shame they feel. Well, every ounce they should be feeling at this time, since they decided to get right back to work and act like nothing happened!" Jazz started complaining again as she stood up and started pacing the room angrily, continuing her rant about how heartless her parents were.

"Jazz is right Danny, there isn't anything to worry about," Sam added.

"Yeah, you're parents may be a little obsessive, okay extremely obsessive," Tucker corrected after seeing Danny's look "but that doesn't mean that they aren't good parents. They won't care, trust me."

"Then what are they doing in the lab?"

"I don't know Danny, but you have to trust them," Sam comforted.

"How can I trust them after what they did?" he asked angrily.

"I know it's hard and I know I'd probably be thinking the same thing were I in you position, but you have to remember that they're your parents. I've known them since I was a in Kindergarten, and they don't seem like the kind of people who would want to hurt you."

"Well, they might not seem like the people who want to hurt me, but they did," Danny argued, the pain he felt in his heart expressing itself through his voice.

They fell into silence again. Sam and Tucker didn't know what to say to that, and Jazz wasn't paying attention through her ranting. Danny didn't want to keep talking about this; it was too painful, and it wasn't like he wasn't in enough pain already. He looked at the clock. It was already noon. Normally he'd be hungry by now, but strangely he wasn't. Those electric pulses must have screwed up his stomach, _along with the rest of my body _he thought bitterly.

"Wow, I can't believe it's already noon," Danny stated, hopefully trying to end the silence with a pleasant topic.

"Noon! Oh my gosh!" Sam cried as she jumped up. "My parents are probably going crazy! I never told them I left! Can I use your phone?"

"Sure," Danny agreed.

"Hey, can I use it after? I want to tell my parents that I'm going to be here the rest of the day." Tucker asked.

"Go ahead." Well, bringing up the time certainly ended the silence between them, though not in the way he had planned. He wanted to keep talking, to keep his mind off the pain. He tried to focus on Jazz's complaints, but he found that they just weren't interesting enough to draw his attention away from the pain. He found that while thinking or talking he didn't feel as much pain, but now that he was silent, the pain was back, hurting each time he took a breath. He considered going ghost so he didn't have to breathe, but he figured that, like the goo, it would probably hurt more in his ghost form. Plus, he didn't think he had enough energy to go ghost anyway.

Sam and Tucker walked to the door and Sam yanked it open to reveal his parents standing outside the door, his father's hand held up like he was just about to knock. Jazz automatically stopped her ranting and turned to face them, her eyes blazing with anger. Danny just looked at them, his face expressionless. He didn't really know how to feel. He was afraid, angry, sad, and happy all at the same time.

Sam and Tucker realized that the telephone sounded really good right now. Anything outside this room sounded really good right now, even the test they were missing in Lancer's class. Sam just pushed her way out the door as Danny's parents moved out of her way. She didn't even spare them a glance. Tucker followed in suit and both of them left the room.

He looked at his parents. He'd never seen the two of them look so uncomfortable before. His dad was shifting his weight to both sides, looking everywhere but at Danny. His mother looked down at her wringing hands, occasionally looking at Danny, but then looked down as if ashamed to have even looked at him. Were they ashamed of him or were they just uncomfortable because of what they did? Or were they uncomfortable about what they were about to do? Were they about to tell him to get out? Were they about to tell him they didn't love him anymore and that they'd still hunt him? Looking at them, he never felt more frightened in his entire life. After finding out about his powers, after all the ghosts he'd fought, after all the close encounters, after being tortured by his parents, nothing scared him as much as right now. The rest of his life, both as a ghost and a human, hung on this single moment, and that petrified him.

Jazz stood in front of the door, in between Danny and their parents. "Don't take another step. You don't belong in here. You've traumatized him enough already."

"Please Jazz, we just brought something for Danny," Maddie begged, tears falling from her eyes as Jack pulled out a little phial of dark green liquid.

"We've been working on it all night," Jack stated quietly. Danny never heard him talk so quiet before, or sound so dejected, not even when he thought Mom would leave him.

"What, torturing him wasn't enough? Now you want to poison him?" Jazz cried angrily, looking at the vial. Even though Danny couldn't see her face, he could tell that although she was trying to keep the tears in, she was bawling. "Couldn't you just wait until he's better before you start hunting him? Give him a chance? He's your son!"

"Dammit Jazz, we don't want to hurt him!" Jack yelled. Danny saw a glimmer of light on his cheek. His dad was crying. Danny had never seen him cry before.

"Well you sure fooled me! I thought the whole torture thing did hurt him."

"This is not the time for sarcasm Jazmine," his mother cried. "We know what we did was wrong! But you won't give us time to explain!"

"What's there to explain? I don't think there's anything in the world you can say to make everything better!"

His parents stayed silent, not fighting her statement.

"No, there isn't," Maddie answered quietly. "That's why we made this. It's ghost energy, it should help him get back what he lost."

"And how do we know that's really what it is?"

"You just have to trust us," Jack answered lamely.

Danny thought back to his earlier conversation with Sam and Tucker. _"You just have to trust them…they're your parents" _Sam had advised. "_They don't seem like the people who would hurt you."_ He looked at them and saw the tears pouring from their eyes. The amount of tears he'd seen them cry during the past five minutes could probably fill a large glass. Their hazmat suits were soaked from the tears they'd shed. Their eyes were puffy and red and they had large bags under their eyes. They looked like they'd aged ten years overnight. They looked ashamed, embarrassed, broken. He racked his memory and couldn't remember a time when they looked this depressed. If they were going tohurt someone, it would be themselves.

Jazz looked ready to retort but Danny finally found his voice. "Jazz…it's okay." His parents both looked up at Danny when he spoke, making eye contact for the first time. "I trust them."

His mother's face radiated pure joy. She ran past Jazz and swept him into her arms, hugging him tightly, sobbing into his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her and all the pain, all the emotions he'd been feeling he let out in his tears as he burst out crying into his mom's shoulder. He felt his dad's weight on the other side of his bed and felt his arms around his back. He turned and hugged him tightly, his father now sobbing too. Jazz ran onto the bed and wrapped one arm around both her parents, all of them weeping while encircled in a family hug. Danny's entire body ached and burned from the contact and the pressure from the hug and his face burned as the tears slid down his face, but he didn't care. His parents still loved him, and that was all that mattered.

* * *

"What do you think's going on up there?" Tucker asked Sam after he hung up the phone. 

"I don't know," Sam answered truthfully.

"I mean, it's not like they're going to hurt him, right?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?" he said in shock. He was expecting her to agree with him and thus comfort his nerves. "What about all that stuff you said in Danny's room?"

"Oh come on Tucker! I just made all that up to make Danny feel better. Nothing's going to get solved if he doesn't have the mindset to accept his parents' apology if it comes. If Mr. and Mrs. Fenton don't really want to hurt him, there's no way Danny'd believe them with the attitude he had. This way he'll be more open to them."

"Unless you just told him to trust them while they are in reality trying to kill him."

"Well, that does present a problem."

The two remained silent, not knowing what to expect.

"Maybe we should go up there?" Tucker asked.

"No way. I don't think we should get involved. This is a family issue. Plus, I don't want to see either outcome. I don't want to see Danny's heart get broken if they decide they don't love him and I don't want to see all the gooey love if they still do. Either way it's going to be bad."

The two of them remained silent, thinking about what best to do when they heard a scream from upstairs that greatly resembled Danny. They looked at each other and raced up the stairs.

* * *

"I'm sorry Danny! I'm so sorry!" his mother choked out through her tears. Danny responded with a kiss to her forehead. 

They hugged for what seemed like forever, until the pain started to catch up with him. He started gasping in pain from so much contact and pressure. The three of them scrambled off the bed and Danny slumped back down on the bed, gasping and choking back cries of pain.

"Sorry, sorry!" his mother apologized.

"Don't…worry about it," Danny muttered through the gasps. "I'll be alright."

His mom sat in Jazz's chair next to Danny and stroked his hair while he waited for the pain to subside.

"I wish there was something we could do for you son," his father stated as he sat down in Sam's old chair.

"Jack, the ghost energy!" Maddie remembered.

"That's right! I forgot all about it!" Jack remarked as he pulled the bottle out of his pocket. The contents started to glow brighter as the phial was brought closer to Danny.

"Why is that stuff glowing brighter near Danny," Jazz asked suspiciously.

"It's reacting with Danny's ghost energy," Jack informed her. He passed the phial to Danny. He took it and uncorked it, ready to drink it.

"Wait!" his mom shouted. "I don't know if you should drink it."

"What do you mean?" Danny asked.

"Yeah, what do you mean?" Jack asked.

"I don't think you should drink it in your…human form," she clarified, feeling awkward at having to specify that her son was human right now, but wasn't always. "It's ghost energy, so it probably should be taken…as a ghost. I don't know what it will do to humans."

"Your mother's right. It's probably not safe," Jack agreed.

"But I don't have enough energy to go ghost," Danny remarked. His parents were surprised to hear how commonly Danny said it, like he was used to saying it all the time. This was going to take some getting used to.

"You have to sweetheart, otherwise I won't let you drink it."

"I'll test it," Jazz offered bravely.

"No!" all three of them yelled at once.

"I'm not going to drink it, I'm just going to taste it," Jazz explained. She had a theory, and if it was right, she'd never even need to bring the stuff towards her face. She walked over to the bed and grabbed the phial as the liquid inside it turned from a bright, glowing green to a dull, dark green as it moved further from Danny. She poured a little onto a plate and handed the vial back to her mother. She looked at Danny, convinced she wanted to do this. She extended her index finger and dipped it into the liquid.

Upon contact, she gasped and dropped the plate on the carpet. Maddie and Jack both ran over to her and looked at her finger. It was red and raw, just like the burns Danny sustained from the goo.

"Give me the plate," Danny commanded.

"No way! If it did this to Jazz I'm not going to give it to you as well! That shows it's not made for humans!"

"But I'm not entirely human," Danny reasoned, feeling really awkward admitting it in front of his parents.

His father brought the plate over to Danny as his mother looked at him in disbelief.

"You're not seriously going to let him, are you?" she asked him.

"He knows what he's doing Maddie," he answered, looking at his son. "You do know what you're doing, right?" he whispered to Danny, out of earshot from his mother. Danny nodded and Jack smiled.

Danny reached his finger into the liquid and immediately felt a burning sensation. He wrenched his hand away and comforted it in his other hand. It didn't hurt nearly as bad as everything else, it was just a little burn, but he still figured that it wouldn't be safe to drink it and expose it to his already sore insides.

"Alright, that's good enough proof for me. Ghost it is then." He sat with his eyes closed, knowing that going ghost was going to hurt and knowing that it would take up a lot of his remaining strength, but he had to do it. Not only because this stuff would make him feel better, but he wanted to make his parents feel better, and showing them that their idea worked was a surefire way to do just that. He concentrated, using his remaining strength to transform. He felt the white rings circle around his waste, and he braced himself for the pain.

As the rings moved up his body, he felt like he was in the torture device all over again. As more of his body turned ghost, more of his body started to hurt. He screamed again, but once the transformation was complete, he stopped screaming and fell back down on his pillow, his eyes shut as he tried to ignore the pain.

"Danny, are you alright?" his mother asked as she rushed back to the side of the bed.

Danny opened his bright, glowing green eyes and looked up at his mom. "Yeah," Danny replied, his voice echoing as Tucker and Sam rushed into the room, surprised to see Danny in his ghost form.

"Danny, why…?" Sam began to ask.

"Don't worry. My parents found a way to help me, but I have to be a ghost to drink it, otherwise it'll do the opposite. And Mom, I knew this was going to happen, so don't look so sad. It was the same thing with the goo…" he stopped. He knew right after he said it that he shouldn't have brought it up.

"Wait, Tucker and Sam know? And what's the goo you're talking about?" his mother questioned.

"They've known since the beginning. And the goo…well do you remember yesterday how you asked me to clean the goo that sprayed all over the living room? Well…that stuff works really well," he replied as he removed his glove with a sharp intake of pain. His mother saw his raw hand and immediately started apologizing.

"Oh Danny! We never should have made you clean that up! Oh, and look what it did to you!"

"You think that's bad, you should see his back," Tucker commented without thinking.

"You got it on your back too?" his mother started fretting as Danny gave Tucker an evil look. "Oh Danny…"

"Mom, it's fine, alright. I'm totally over it now." This was technically the truth. After all, his hand and back still hurt, but just as much as everything else, so he couldn't really tell if it was the goo or the torture.

"Maddie," Jack muttered softly.

"Right, sorry. I suppose you'll be wanting that energy, huh?" She grabbed it off his dresser and brought it towards him. It was shining brighter than before.

"Cheers," Danny remarked as he lifted the glass and then drained it. Everyone stared expectantly at Danny, waiting for something to happen.

Danny looked at his mother and father. "Could I have a soda please? This tastes really nasty."

Both looked overjoyed that it hadn't hurt him. They wouldn't be able to tell whether it helped him or not, but it certainly didn't harm him. They finally did something right.

"Sure thing honey," his mother remarked lovingly as she kissed his icy forehead. "Sweetheart, you're so cold!"

"Yeah, I guess it comes with the territory," Danny remarked as his mother smiled and left to get his soda.

"Dad?"

"Yes son?"

"Do I have to stay in ghost mode or can I go back to normal?" Danny asked, hoping to get out of the form that hurt more.

"Um, I don't see why not…" his father started to answer awkwardly, not really knowing how to answer. He saw the rings form around his son as he turned back to his human form.

His mom returned with his soda and he drank it while everyone gathered chairs around his bed, watching him drink.

"Danny, why didn't you tell us?" his mother asked.

There it was, the question he knew they were going to ask, the question he didn't want to answer.

"Well…I was afraid," he answered after a long silence.

"Afraid of what?" Jack asked.

"Well…that…you wouldn't…um…" He was finding this extremely difficult to explain.

"That we wouldn't love you anymore," his mom finished for him.

"Yeah," Danny admitted, blushing.

"Sweetheart, no matter what happens, no matter what you do, we will always love you."

"So even if you decide to attack the mayor and try to destroy the city and steal things from our lab, we'll still love you," Jack elaborated.

"For the last time, I didn't attack the mayor! I was framed! And I don't purposely try to destroy the city, it just happens. And, since it's my lab too, I really don't steal anything from it," Danny defended.

"Don't worry sweetheart, we believe you. An innocent boy like you could never do anything like that on purpose."

Danny smiled, glad to know that not only would he not have to continue lying to his parents about ghost hunting, but he wouldn't have to worry about fighting his parents anymore either.

"And I'm glad you trusted in Jazz. She's an excellent choice, as are your two friends."

"Yeah…wait a minute, I never told Jazz."

Everyone stared at her as she blushed.

"How long have you known?" Danny asked her.

"Oh, well, since that ghost counselor came to our school. If you remember we were eating lunch and you just ran out, so I followed you and I saw you transform."

"You've known for that long?" Danny asked. Jazz nodded her head.

"Wow, suddenly your new attitude towards me makes tons of sense," Danny contemplated.

"So Danny, how exactly did you become half ghost?" Maddie asked, puzzled. "Not that there's anything wrong with it," she added quickly. "It's just, everything I've ever studied about ghosts shows that it's physically impossible, yet, here you are."

"I must admit I'm a bit intrigued," Jack added.

"As am I," Jazz remarked. "I've been wondering ever since I found out."

"Well, it happened during the lab accident."

"Of course!" his mom exclaimed. "Ever since that lab accident you've been acting funny."

"What exactly happened Danny?" his father asked.

"Well, after you tried the portal and it didn't work, I decided to have a look inside, so I put on one of the suits and went inside the ghost portal. I tripped over a cord and caught myself on a wall and accidentally pushed a button, which somehow activated the Ghost Zone. When I woke up, I was in my ghost form."

"We've never really understood how it happened," Sam clarified. "We just know that it had something to do with the ghost portal being activated and Danny being caught inside it."

"Yes, but being shocked with that large amount of ghost energy should have killed you Danny," his mother remarked.

"Unless it only half killed him, thus resulting in him being only half ghost," Jack pondered.

"Yes, but is that possible?" Maddie asked.

"Well, it has to be, because I'm still here, alive…I think," Danny answered. He never really thought about it that way. If indeed he really did become half ghost, that means he was half killed in the accident. _Wow, I'm half dead._ _I'm half dead._ He didn't really know how to react to that information. He felt even more secluded from everyone else. Not only was he only half human, but he was only half alive as well, with ghost powers to boot.

His mother must have noticed his new depressed attitude at the thought of being only half alive. "Of course you're alive," his mother comforted. "Your heart still beats and I know you still crave sleep and food, so you're obviously still alive. Ghost's don't need any of that."

Danny understood what his mom was saying, but it still didn't comfort him. So what if he still got hungry or tired? If he stayed in his ghost form he wouldn't feel hungry or tired, so it didn't really help his situation at all. He still felt alone.

His father, on the other hand, seemed to have figured it out. "The ectoplasmic blast from the ghost portal must have rearranged his molecules, which half killed him, leaving him half ghost," his father reasoned.

"Yes, that would make sense," his mother replied. "So Danny, tell us some stories. We're dying to hear what trouble you've gotten yourself into."

Danny could tell his mother was trying to change the subject, and he felt grateful for it. He pushed the thought out of his mind for the rest of the night as they talked things over, their subjects ranging from stories of dangerous adventures to Danny's awkward first moments to laughs about Fenton ghost hunting inventions that actually work.

"So you mean that Ghost Gabber isn't broken after all?" Jack asked Danny.

"Nope. Although, it's kinda pointless, since all the ghosts I've ever met speak English, so there's really no need for a translator. Well, all but one, but Tucker understood him, so it doesn't really matter. So all but one speak English; there's still no need."

"Yes, but it works."

"Yes."

"Haha! I always knew it did! I never could figure out what was wrong with it. It always seemed right…"

"Yeah," Danny replied while yawning. "I was surprised you just kept thinking they didn't work. I thought for sure one day you would question why they always worked around me but no one else."

"Yes well, we tended to think that…"

"Jack, quiet. Can't you see Danny's tired?" his mom remarked. Sure enough, Danny was tired. He could barely keep his eyes open and he continued to yawn. "We've been talking to him too long. Alright, one person should stay with him, the rest of us should leave and get something to eat and drink, and then probably some sleep as well. I'm sure you all pulled an all-nighter just like we did."

In the end, Tucker offered to stay, since he actually fell asleep twice during the day, once in the morning and again when Sam was arguing with her parents on the phone. Danny continued to argue that it wasn't necessary, but his family wouldn't hear of it. They would all take a shift so there'd always be someone there with him. Secretly, he was thankful, but he also didn't like imposing on them so much. But he knew they would do it regardless of whether he wanted them to or not, so he let it go and quickly drifted off to dreamless sleep.

* * *


	5. Does it Really Matter?

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! I really appreciate them! I'm glad to see that so many people liked the last chapter! So far, this one and the previous chapter are my favorites, so I hope you like it!

* * *

Chapter Five  
Does it Really Matter?

Danny awoke the next morning, the feeling of pain almost nonexistent. Rejoicing that soon things would be getting back to normal and he could get out of bed, he sat up, and then gasped in pain. So, it didn't hurt to just lay still but it hurt to move, which meant another day of just lying around doing nothing. Well, at least the energy seemed to work. He probably wouldn't have been able to recover this quickly without it.

He looked to his left and noticed his father, fast asleep. Danny decided not to wake him. After all, there wasn't really anything he needed to wake him up for, and his father probably needed the sleep.

Danny decided to chance it and get out of bed. After all, the pain he felt when he moved was just comparable to the pain he was feeling all day yesterday, so it wouldn't really be anything new. Besides, he needed to get out of his room before he drove himself mad.

He pulled back the covers and slid quietly out of the bed, grimacing with each movement. He moved his legs slowly to the edge of the bed and slowly lowered his weight onto them. He cringed as he used his sore muscles to stand, but the pain was bearable. He took a step, cringing again, but glad to be walking around. He figured half of the soreness in his leg came from the lack of use over the past two days. He walked slowly out of the room, waiting for the quick jolt of pain to cease from a step before taking another. He slowly walked down the stairs and into the kitchen.

He opened the fridge and pulled out the carton of orange juice. He looked over his shoulders, as he usually did when sneaking a drink from the fridge, and then drank the juice straight from the carton.

"Daniel Fenton!" his mother yelled as she came down the stairs. And, as usual, his mother found him while drinking out of the carton. "How many times have I told you not to drink straight out of the carton? You'll make us all sick!"

"Sorry Mom," he apologized, placing the carton on the table and walking slowly over to the cupboard for a glass.

Suddenly, his mother remembered everything that had happened the night before. "Daniel Fenton!"

"What? I'm getting a glass!"

"What are you doing out of bed? You should be resting!"

"Oh. Well…um…I'm just sick of staying in bed okay? I'm driving myself crazy up there, I had to get up and walk around."

"Well at least sit in a chair," her mother advised, pulling a chair out and helping him into it while he winced. His mother walked over to the coffee maker and poured some coffee into her mug. If Danny was paying any attention earlier, he would have noticed that the coffee maker was already on, meaning his mother was awake. She sat down next to Danny and placed her mug on the table. "You have to take baby steps Danny, otherwise you'll heal slower, and I know you don't want that."

"I know. But sitting up in bed and lying in bed are still the same type of thing. I wanted to get out of the room."

"I understand. I remember when I fell out of my tree house when I was a little girl. Actually, now that I think back on it, I think my sister pushed me out of the tree house… Well however I got discharged from the tree house I ended up breaking my leg, and I had to lie in my room for a week before my parents would let me out of the house. Finally I was so fed up with staying in my room that I got up and walked out."

"Where did you go?"

"The foot of the stairs. I was walking along fine, until I took a wrong step on my broken leg and fell down the stairs. I actually ended up breaking my other leg in the process. But what I'm trying to say is I know how frustrating it can be to stay cooped up in your room, but it's really for the best. If you want to come downstairs, just ask one of us and we'll help you down, alright?"

"Alright," Danny agreed.

"Would you like something to eat?"

"Please!" Danny answered, starving.

"You're hungry, that's a good sign," his mother replied smiling. "I'll make some toast, sound good?"

"Anything sounds good right now."

They sat in silence while his mom prepared his toast. She placed the plate in front of Danny and he eagerly grabbed a piece and took a large bite, the warm toast and butter satisfying his hunger greatly.

The silence continued as Danny hungrily ate his toast while Maddie sipped her coffee, looking lovingly at Danny, and then occasionally glancing back down at her coffee mug.

"Danny, I wanted to ask you something."

Danny swallowed the piece of toast in his mouth. "No, I've never attacked an innocent person, no I've never used my powers for bad, no I've never purposely destroyed the lab, and no I've never used my invisibility powers to spy on girls."

His mother chuckled. "No Danny, it wasn't that. I just wondered…why you thought we wouldn't love you anymore after we found out."

"Well…you're ghost hunters, and you and Dad would always complain about how much you hate ghosts and want to rid the world of them, so I felt a little scared. I didn't know if that hatred would extend to me as well. You always said you didn't want a ghost in the house, and here I was, a ghost in the house. I wanted to tell you, it would have made everything so much easier, but then after what happened with the mayor and how you and Dad hated Danny Phantom so much, I knew I couldn't. If I was afraid you'd shun me before for just being a ghost, I knew you would after finding out I was Public Ghost Enemy Number One."

Maddie scooted her chair over to Danny and hugged him tightly. "Don't worry sweetheart. That'll never happen. You're father and I, well, we just never thought something like this would happen, or if it were even possible. But you rest assured that nothing, not even our love of ghost hunting, can get in the way of our love for our family." Danny hugged her back, glad they got that obstacle out of the way.

They continued to sit in silence as Danny rested his head on her shoulder. Danny could tell his mother still wanted to talk about something hard to talk about.

"Mom?"

"Yes dear?"

"Just get it out. What do you want to say? I know you want to say something, so just say it already. I won't care."

"Well, it's just…the conversation last night. I wanted to make sure you were alright. You looked really down."

Danny suddenly remembered the revelation he had last night, and his mood immediately dropped.

"Like that. Is there something you want to talk about?"

"It just never occurred to me before that I'm only half alive. It's just weird to think about, hard to grasp. It took me awhile to finally accept that I was only half human, but now this?"

"Sweetheart, you can't think of it like that. You still eat and sleep. You still have to breathe air and process nutrients, just like the rest of us."

"But I'm not like the rest of you!" he yelled angrily, removing his head from her shoulder and looking at her. "Sure I may have to eat and sleep now, but my other half doesn't have to! If I wanted, I would never have to eat, or sleep, or breathe air! My heart doesn't even beat when I'm a ghost! How can you say I'm like everyone else? I can't be a ghost, and I can't be human! I'm stuck in between two worlds, and I don't belong in either!"

Maddie grabbed his shoulders and brought her head close to his face, looking right into his bright blue eyes. "You can't think that Danny. Don't ever think you don't belong, because you do. You belong here, with us. So what if you're half dead? You're still our son and you're still a teenager. You still have friends and family who love you, and you still have a future. You have what every other teen on the planet has. So what if your heart doesn't beat sometimes? Is that really what matters? What really matters is that you still have a heart, one that can give and accept love, which you have. The heart may beat to keep people alive, but the real function of a heart is to love, and that's really all that matters in the end. So are you going to get depressed because your heart doesn't beat or your lungs don't need oxygen, or are you going to realize that in the great scheme of things, it really doesn't matter?"

Danny stared at her, tears falling from his eyes. He buried his head in her shoulder, crying. "Thank you Mom. Thank you."

She cuddled him and stroked his hair softly. She never knew her son was suffering so much on the inside. He seemed more outwardly confident, but inside he was a mess. _It has to be hard, being half human and half ghost, leading two lives. No wonder he's so depressed._

"And I want you to know Daniel Fenton that if anyone ever calls you a freak, I give you full outright permission to use every ghost power you possess on him, do you understand me?"

Danny pulled away and smiled at her, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Oh Danny, I'm so proud of you," his mother stated, tears falling from her eyes as well. "I just wanted you to know that. I've never been more proud of you in my life than I have been over the past day, and I know your father feels the same way."

"Thanks Mom."

"You do so much for everyone, and you're so underappreciated. You sacrifice everything to save everyone."

"Well, not everything. I didn't have to sacrifice you and Dad," Danny smiled.

"No, and you'll never have to," she stated as she hugged her son again. "Alright, and now I think it's time for you to get back in bed," she advised, wiping away her tears. "You've been up long enough, I think you can brave your bedroom again," she replied as she saw Danny's evil look.

Danny gradually stood up and started walking to his room in the same way he walked down, extremely slowly. His mother walked behind him, wanting to help him, but at the same time thinking that Danny really needed to do this by himself. They finally reached his room and Maddie saw Jack fast asleep and drooling on the covers. Maddie motioned for Danny to get into bed, which he did as quickly as he could. Danny pretended to be asleep as Maddie woke Jack.

"Where's the ghost?" he asked as he was shook awake.

"You fell asleep watching Danny," his mother remarked.

"Oh, sorry dear."

"That's alright. You get off to bed, I'll take over."

Jack gave her a kiss on her head as he headed towards his bedroom with a yawn.

"Where is everyone?" Danny asked his mom, suddenly realizing that the house had become extremely quiet.

"Jazz is still sleeping and Tucker and Sam had to go to school."

"Oh my gosh! School! I totally forgot!" he yelled, sitting up in bed, pain searing through his chest and abdomen.

"Don't worry; I already called you in sick."

"No, Mr. Lancer's test! I missed it, and he's not letting people make it up! Oh, I'm going to fail at school and life," he remarked as he dropped back onto his bed.

His mother suppressed a chuckle. No matter if he was part ghost, he was still definitely her Danny. "Don't worry about it; I'm sure he'll understand."

"No he won't. This is Mr. Lancer we're talking about. He never understands anything I say. He doesn't like me at all."

"Well, your father and I will have a talk with him then. There's no reason you shouldn't be allowed to make it up. Now just don't worry about it and just get some sleep. We'll worry about it once you're feeling better. Just get some rest."

Danny started to close his eyes when he spotted his mom sitting in the chair next to him.

"Honestly Mom, I don't need somebody watching me twenty-four seven," Danny stated.

"Oh I know, but I want to."

Danny snuggled under his covers, shut his eyes, and soon drifted into sleep.

* * *


	6. An Unexpected Visitor

A/N: Thank you for all the reviews! I'm sorry to repay your kind words by updating with such a short chapter! This was just a little idea I had that I thought would make a cute little chapter. I was originally going to combine it with another chapter, but I wanted to leave the previous one where it was and the next chapter started getting too long, so I had to insert a break somewhere. I promise to put the next chapter up soon and I can guarantee that it'll be long!

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Chapter Six  
An Unexpected Visitor

He awoke to find no one sitting next to him in bed. They must have finally realized that having someone watch over him while he slept was a little ridiculous. He didn't want to continue to be a bother to them; they needed to carry on with their lives. He'd heal just as fast without someone sitting next to him.

But still, he did feel a little lonely. They would sit by his bed while he was asleep but not while he was awake, interesting. He was awake and bored, and there was no one to talk to, and he knew his mother would flip if she found him out of bed again.

He looked around his room, trying to find something to do when he heard voices coming up the stairs. Good, he'd have someone to talk to.

"Let me see if he's awake," he heard his mother say in the hall near his door. Quickly he grabbed the book he was supposed to read for English and buried his head in it, hoping to look like he actually found a way to entertain himself. He thought it would be weird if they just entered the room to find him staring at the door.

He saw his mom open the door slightly then smile when she saw him awake. "Danny, there's someone here to see you," his mother informed.

Mr. Lancer marched in through the door, looking at Danny in a much different way than usual. Was it pity?

"Mr. Lancer heard about the accident in the lab and how you got shocked by that electricity. He stopped by to see how you were doing," his mother explained, secretly telling Danny the alibi they formulated.

"Mr. Fenton, how are you doing?"

"A little better sir, but still bed ridden and still sore," Danny answered politely as his mother left and shut the door behind her.

"Yes, I can imagine. I don't think electrocution would be painless. Probably one of the most painful experiences of your life."

"Yes sir."

"I must say I was sad to hear that you'd been injured, so I decided to stop by and give my condolences." He handed Danny a card as he sat down next to his bed.

"Mr. Lancer, you didn't have to."

"No, I felt that I did. As much as I may not show it Fenton, I do rather like you as a student. I'm just hard on you because I know that you can do a lot more but instead you choose not to. So, when Mr. Foley and Ms. Manson told me you were near death due to an electrical accident, I was genuinely concerned, as were your classmates, as you will probably see."

Danny opened the letter in slow and delicate motions since movement still hurt quite painfully and saw a piece of paper fall out. He didn't look at the paper because he was distracted by the vast amount of black on the card. Almost his entire high school class had signed the get well card, some of them he didn't even know. He was shocked to find that even Paulina and Dash had signed it. Granted Paulina wished he would get well so he could come back because that meant that the ghost boy might show up and Dash wished he'd get well because he missed beating him up, but still the sentiment was there. That's probably why Danny didn't know a lot of the people who signed the card. Since Paulina signed it, anyone else who wanted to appear cool had to sign it as well.

Danny examined the piece of paper. On it, Lancer had written a note. It read:

_Danny,  
This note can be used in the place of any assignment or test (except for the final). It will go in the grade book as an automatic hundred, so please use it wisely.  
Mr. Lancer_

Danny looked up at Mr. Lancer with a look of disbelief. "Sir, I…I don't know what to say."

"I didn't think you would. I know most people bring flowers or candy, but I thought that the one thing that would cheer you up most is another reason for you to be lazy." Danny smiled. "Now, there are a few exceptions. First, you cannot use it on any assignment that you miss while you're sick."

"What!" Danny shouted loudly.

"Let me finish Mr. Fenton. The reason is that all assignments and tests you miss while you're sick will be exempt, so they will neither help you nor harm you. It will just look like they never took place."

"Even the one we're not allowed to make up under any circumstances?" Danny asked with a wry smile, quoting Mr. Lancer's words.

Mr. Lancer smiled. "Yes, even that one."

"Thank you Mr. Lancer."

"My pleasure Mr. Fenton. I also wish to inform you that all the protocol that took place seven months ago after your first accident will apply here, including my offer to talk if needed. Now, I must be going. I'm sure your friends and family are anxious to see you. I hope you have a speedy recovery."

"Thanks," Danny thanked as Mr. Lancer walked out the door. So Mr. Lancer really liked him? He never really showed it, but maybe that was the point. Maybe Lancer was one of those teachers who was harder on those he liked because he wanted to push them to do well.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Danny was allowed to journey downstairs for dinner so the family could all have dinner together. It was the best dinner of Danny's life, even though it was so simple. There was nothing exceedingly special about it. It was just the four of them, enjoying simple spaghetti with garlic toast and salad. They didn't talk about anything special, just general things like school, work, and friends. What really made Danny happy was that this was the first meal in seven months where he had no secrets from the rest of his family. It was during this dinner that he realized that he never had to lie to them anymore when they asked what he did during the day. He never had to rush out of dinner for unexplained reasons again, never had to worry about his powers malfunctioning while everyone was looking. From this dinner onward he could be completely open to his parents about everything, and this new outlook on life was what made this dinner the best dinner ever.

* * *

A/N: So, that was my little tribute to Mr. Lancer. He's one of my favorite characters and he gets such a bad rep because he's hard on Danny, but, as you can see, I like to think he's more of a teacher that wants to push you.Whatever his real reasons are, you won't find Lancer being especially mean to Danny outside of school in any of my stories!

Again, I apologize for the length!


	7. The Best Thing That Ever Happened

A/N: Alright, sorry to make you wait so long. I have two words: Robinson Crusoe. If you've read it, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, consider yourself lucky. The book takes forever to read and if it weren't for my sadistic Human Event teacher, I'd be reading Spark Notes. (Oh, and I'm sorry if any of you like the book, but I just can't get through it).

Anywho, just a few notes for this chapter. I'm making this chapter slightly AU in regards to the end of The Ultimate Enemy. I'm just assuming that the whole thing between Danny and Jazz never happened, so he still doesn't know that she knows. Second, Vlad found out about Danny's future self. I don't know how, and it's really not important, but Vlad seems to know everything that goes on, so it's not that big of a stretch. You can assume that he goes into Clockwork's lair and sees the future or something, or however else you want him to find out. He just does.

Oh, and thanks for all the reviews for the Lancer chapter! I'm so glad to hear that so many of you like Lancer as well! And I even swayed a few! Yay!

Note to Kairi7: Go for it! You can totally do a spin-off and I would love to hear it! Sorry not to get back to you quicker, but I didn't really have any way to contact you. And I would love to read it if you don't want to post it. I don't really want to give my e-mail out here, but if you want to pm me your e-mail or put it in a review, then I can send you mine!

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Chapter Seven  
The Best Thing that Ever Happened

The next week passed in a blur of sleep to Danny. His parents wouldn't let him out of bed until he was completely healed, so he was stuck in his room while his parents went back to work (meaning downstairs in the lab) and his sister and two best friends went to school. So he ended up spending most of his time sleeping.

Danny didn't know what they were doing in the lab, but he knew that it had nothing to do with him. He was no longer nervous that they would try to attempt anything. Sure, he knew that his father would want to test some inventions out on him, but he knew that it wouldn't be anything that would seriously hurt him. Probably just little things like the Fenton Boomerang or the Ghost Gabber.

His parents mostly spent their time catching all the ghosts Danny should have been out catching. There were countless times where he was tempted to go out and help, but he decided against it. His parents knew what they were doing, and no one knew better than Danny, so he figured his parents could handle it for awhile before he took over again. Plus, he figured it would work out better this way. They were just getting used to the fact that he was half ghost, and he figured he'd let them get used to it before he immersed himself in ghost fighting again.

During the week he had received many more visitors than just Mr. Lancer. Of course, Sam and Tucker visited daily, finding ways to entertain him in his boredom. But to Danny's great surprise he had a lot of other visitors as well. Mr. and Mrs. Foley stopped by and brought him their famous chocolate cake, which Danny always had a sweet tooth for. Even Mr. and Mrs. Manson stopped by and they brought him a new video game. Valerie stopped by with flowers and told him that Casper High wasn't the same without him. Dash and Kwan showed up, telling Danny that high school was boring without him and that he considers each day he can't shove Danny into a locker a waste. Then Paulina even showed up with Star and complained to him that he needed to get back to school quick because she hadn't seen the Ghost Boy all week.

Finally, after a week of laying in bed his parents pronounced Danny fit to get up and walk freely about the house. He felt no more pain from moving or being touched and could go ghost without any pain. He had full access to his powers and could use them without feeling tired, so his parents couldn't deny that he was better.

That night Tucker and Sam came over for a party to celebrate. The party was a lot of fun with cake, music, punch, and a lot of laughter. Danny especially enjoyed himself because he was out of bed and could laugh, joke, and have fun with his family without being limited to the confines of a bed. Most importantly though, he could stand and walk around, which he cherished after being stuck in a bed for so long.

His mirth was short lived however when his ghost sense went off. His mother saw him stop and gasp,

"Sweetheart, what's wrong?"

"Ghost sense," he stated simply. They looked at him quizzically. "It goes off when there's a ghost nearby. I'm going ghost!" The white rings formed around his waist and separated, transforming him into his ghost form.

He went intangible and flew through the floor into the lab. His mother and father just continued to stare for a few seconds, not really expecting what just happened. Then they ran down to the lab to watch the fight with Jazz following right behind them. They were eager to see what he could do and Jazz wanted to finally see him without having to peek from behind a tree.

As they walked down the steps they heard Danny talking to what they figured was a ghost.

"Why did you have to show up? I was having a party up there! I've been ill for the past week and the day that I'm finally better I have to spend down here fighting you again! I mean, I only fought you a week ago! Can't you give it a break?"

They stopped at the bottom of the stairs to see Danny floating in front of a short ghost who was dressed in blue overalls with a blue cap and dark hair. He floated over some old boxes that Jack had left down in the lab.

"Because I am the Box Ghost! It is my destiny to control this spherical world and have dominion over all boxes."

"Yeah yeah, I've heard this before. Can we just get to the part where you throw the boxes at me, then I ecto-blast you, and then I suck you up into the thermos so I can get back upstairs?"

"Not today, for I have since perfected my battle plans. Today, the boxes shall destroy you, and I, the Box Ghost, shall take over this earth! Beware!"

The Box Ghost lifted his hands up and all the boxes in the pile rose up into the air. Danny turned intangible, expecting the boxes to fly at him, but instead they piled up around the Box Ghost and formed a large ghost made entirely out of boxes.

"Hey, have you been talking to Lunch Lady, because that's usually what she does," Danny smarted back.

The Box Ghost's eyes shifted nervously. "Beware!" he yelled as he ran towards Danny. Danny flew backwards and up towards the ceiling and put both his hands together as he shot an ecto-blast at him, sending him backwards a little. Then Danny charged at him, knocking him backwards. He punched him in the chin, kneed him in the stomach, and grabbed his arm and flung him onto his back.

The Box Ghost stood up and blasted an ecto-blast at Danny as he pulled up an ecto-shield, which absorbed the blast. Danny charged at him again, continuing to hit him. Each time he hit him a box flew off and landed helplessly on the floor. Then Danny got an idea. He flew backwards and started firing ecto-blasts at all the individual boxes, but there were just too many and it would take forever to blast them all away. Why did his dad have so many boxes in the lab in the first place? Finally, Danny swallowed hard and knew there was only one solution.

He took a deep breath and released his Ghostly Wail at the Box Ghost, which dissolved all his boxes, along with some of the lab supplies. Crap, he'd have to apologize to his parents for that later. Then Danny grabbed the Fenton Thermos and sucked up the now weakened Box Ghost. He flew over to the portal and emptied it, sending the Box Ghost back into the Ghost Zone where he belonged.

He turned around, ready fly upstairs when he saw his parents and Jazz staring at him from the stairs. He grinned sheepishly and then remembered the broken lab equipment.

"Mom, Dad, I can explain about the equipment," Danny started to apologize. His mother noticed that he lowered himself to the ground while talking. She racked her memory and never seemed to remember the Ghost Boy ever doing that before. Usually he would just remain floating, in fact, she hardly saw the Ghost Boy touch the floor at all. So why was he doing it now? Is he still uncomfortable about using his abilities when they're around? She half expected to see him turn human again, but he didn't show any indication that he was going to. He just kept babbling on about the broken lab equipment.

"I didn't mean to destroy it, but there was this big box monster and nothing would work and…"

"Danny that was amazing!" his mother exclaimed. Danny immediately stopped explaining his situation and blushed.

"What was that? That scream thing," his father asked. "I've never seen you or rather any ghost do that before!"

"I call it my Ghostly Wail. I just recently learned it. I don't really like using it that much, since it kinda destroys a lot of stuff, but sometimes it just makes everything a lot easier," he explained as he continued to blush.

"Well, well Daniel. You sure disposed of the Box Ghost quite quickly, even after his new power. I'm impressed," a vicious and smooth voice spoke from behind Danny as his ghost sense went off.

"Plasmius," Danny growled as he turned around to face his mortal enemy.

"The Wisconsin Ghost!" Jack and Maddie both shouted. They ran to get their ecto-guns and pointed them at Vlad.

"Please, do you really think you can do anything to me?" Vlad asked as he laughed.

"You're in our lab and unwelcome," Jack answered. "So, needless to say, we're angered enough to do some damage."

"Well, in that case I should just leave," Vlad joked. "I'll just take young Daniel here and we'll be on our way."

"You're not taking me anywhere!" Danny yelled, floating into the air into attack position.

"Dear Daniel, you don't want to fight me. You never win. Why even bother?"

"Because this time he's got us!" his parents yelled, charging their guns and pointing them at Vlad, who looked taken aback by this sudden twist. Weren't these two against Danny?

Danny could see Vlad's surprise and confusion. "You see Plasmius, you don't hold as much power as you thought," Danny taunted. "My parents know, and they don't care. You can't use them against me anymore."

Vlad obviously looked annoyed that Danny had told them. Now Danny had leverage over him, and he knew it.

"Well, if you want to fight, then so be it," Vlad threatened as he shot a dark pink ecto-blast at Danny. He drew up his ecto-shield to deflect the blast, but by then Vlad had already teleported behind him and shot one at his back. Danny started falling to the floor, but he went intangible and phased right through it. Danny turned invisible and floated up through the floor right behind Vlad while he looked around, wondering where Danny could be. He turned visible and blasted an ecto-blast at him, pushing him into a nearby table.

Vlad flew fast at Danny, knocking him in the stomach before he could go intangible. While Danny doubled over, Vlad shot an ecto-blast at him. Danny quickly recovered and shot multiple blasts at Vlad while flying towards him. He punched him in the jaw and then multiple times in the stomach, chest, and head. Finally Vlad managed to grab his arm and started twisting it back as Danny screamed in pain. He concentrated through the pain and went intangible so Vlad's hand fell right through Danny's. Vlad recovered and started shooting ecto-blasts, which forced Danny to fly around the lab, dodging the blasts while shooting a few back in return.

"Enough of this!" Vlad yelled as he copied himself multiple times so that there was a line of six Vlads, all staring at Danny.

_Crap, I hate it when he does this._ They all started shooting ecto-blasts at him, which caused him to fly around the lab at his top speed, his specter tail flowing out behind him as he dodged as many blasts as he could. He was just dodging a large amount of blasts when he ran right into one of the Vlads. He grabbed him and threw him into the middle of all the Vlads. They all fired ecto-blasts at him at the same time, causing Danny to scream in pain, a scream which sounded very similar to the constant one his parents heard while they were torturing him.

"No one hurts my son like this!" Maddie yelled and blasted one of the Vlads away. She knew this was Danny's battle, but she couldn't stand the thought of her son getting hurt again, not when he'd just gotten better, and not when she could protect him this time. Jack followed in suit and they continued blasting Vlads until only one remained, the one right behind Danny. He grabbed him and threw Danny at the wall, where he hit hard and fell to the floor. He hit the ground with a large thud as the two white rings appeared and changed him back to human.

Danny stood up and looked at Vlad. The white rings formed around his body once again and transformed him back into his ghost form. He flew up to be level with Vlad and took a deep breath and let out his Ghostly Wail. Vlad was thrown against the wall and fell to the floor. Danny floated down to just above the ground as Vlad stood up very slowly, obviously weakened by the wail.

"What was that?" Vlad asked.

"That's my Ghostly Wail. Like it?" Danny breathed, obviously weak from the attack.

"How did you do that?"

"You think I'm going to tell you?"

"But how do you have it while I don't? I've had these powers for twenty years and I never even knew that was possible!"

"Well, I guess it's only a power for good ghosts then," Danny mocked.

The Vlad smiled evilly. "Are you sure it's only for good ghosts? Maybe it's reserved for incredibly evil ghosts."

Danny looked daggers at Vlad. He knew where he was going, and he didn't like it.

"Shut your mouth," Danny warned.

"Why? You know it's true. Why else do you think it's so powerful and destructive? Plus, the only other ghost I've ever known that's able to do that is, well, your future self. Interesting, isn't it?"

"I said shut up!" Danny yelled as he fired a large ecto-blast at Vlad.

"So you obviously have noticed the similarities," Vlad said weakly as he stood up. "Maybe you're a step closer to your future self than I thought."

"No! I'm nothing like him!" Danny yelled again, his bright green eyes glistening with anger.

"Danny, what is he talking about?" his mother asked concerned. Danny looked over at his parents and Jazz on the steps, their eyes wide with wonder and guilty curiosity. Danny's face paled even more as he looked at them.

"Oh, they don't know Danny? Did you conveniently forget to tell them what will happen in the future when you explained everything else? Did you forget to tell them what you will become?"

"Shut up Vlad!" Danny yelled, tears in his eyes. His parents had just accepted him, just realized that he was a good ghost, fighting to save the world. What would they do once they found out the darkness that lurked inside him, waiting for Danny to become weak so he could take advantage and be released?

"Well, I think that answers my question then. Well, if you won't tell them, then I guess the burden is on me to tell them."

"No!" Danny screamed.

"Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, your son will destroy the world and reign supreme over both the ghost zone and the rest of the world. Your son will be the most powerful and malicious enemy the world has ever seen, the Ultimate Enemy. No one, not even the most powerful ghost or human can defeat him."

"No! That's not going to happen!" Danny screamed towards Vlad as he charged up an ecto-blast, but he had already disappeared, leaving Danny alone with his family. Glowing green tears were pouring from Danny's eyes as he realized he was lost. He fell to his knees and buried his head in his hands. He was afraid to look towards his parents, afraid to see the look of disgust and revolt that would show on their faces.

He felt a warm hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Jazz kneeling next to him, tears in her eyes as well. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him as he continued to cry.

Then he felt another warm hand on his shoulder, and then another. He turned around and his teary green eyes met those of his mother and father. He looked down at the floor, ashamed. His mother grabbed his chin and lifted it so it met her eyes, but he kept his glanced downward. She was surprised at how cold his face felt, but then again, he was a ghost, so it should have been expected.

"Danny, look at me," his mother commanded. His bright green eyes looked into hers as more glowing tears fell from them. She brought her other hand up to his face and wiped away his tears. "Listen Danny. We know you'd never do anything evil. We know…"

"No, you don't!" Danny yelled, wrenching his face away from his mother's hold. "He wasn't lying, he was telling the truth. I met this ghost named Clockwork who took me to the future and showed me my future self. I was evil…extremely evil. And…I had…killed…everyone. You, Dad, Jazz, Tucker, and Sam," he cried, tears falling at an even faster rate than before. "It was horrible! I was horrible!"

Maddie and Jack didn't know what to say. They just sat in silence, not knowing what to do.

"Now wait a minute Danny, you left out the rest of the tale," Sam stated as she walked closer to them, having run downstairs after hearing Vlad's voice. "As I seem to recall, when we traveled to the future you saw your future self and tried your hardest to fight him, but he ended up trapping you in the Ghost Zone and then took your place in the present to assure your turn to the dark side. But you escaped from the Ghost Zone and fought your future self, saving all of us from the horrible accident that would kill us."

"And plus, now you know about it, so you continuously choose good over evil, even in the most miniscule decisions to prevent yourself from turning evil," Tucker added.

"We've said it before Danny, and we'll say it again, there's no way you're going to turn evil. You won't let yourself," Sam comforted.

"That's right Danny," a voice said from the direction of the ghost portal. Everyone turned to see a ghost with a clock dressed in a purple cape floating towards Danny. He carried a scepter with a clock perched on top of it and he had a scar across his left eye. His appearance kept changing from a little boy, to a muscular man, to an old man with a long white beard.

"Don't move!" Jack threatened as the ghost approached. "My son has just been attacked by two ghosts and I am in no mood to let another one attack him!"

"Relax Mr. Fenton," Tucker advised. "This is Clockwork. He's a good ghost and a friend of ours."

"I am not here to harm anyone Mr. Fenton. I'm just here to talk to your son. He seems like he needs a pep talk right about now," Clockwork stated as he kneeled down to Danny's height. "Your parents and friends are right Danny. You will never let yourself turn evil, not after seeing what happened. Trust me, I spend a lot of time with your future self while he's in captivity and I can tell you that he is not pleased that you saw your future. That's why he's so anxious to get back to the present and mess with things, because he knows that if you stay on your current path without his interruptions he won't exist. He is filled with doubt and grows nervous. The fact that you fought him further unnerved him, as does your staunch position to stay away from this fate. Do not fret Danny, for you are on the right track. I have full faith and confidence in you and I know you won't let me down. And I believe your parents feel the same way."

"Of course we do Danny! I can't say that this didn't come as a surprise, but we're here for you. We know that you'd never allow this to happen. Just watching your reaction to the whole thing when the Wisconsin Ghost was talking gave us all the proof we needed that you were trying your very hardest to avoid this fate."

"Remember Danny, the future isn't set in stone, and I above all others should know. People can change their future, especially someone as dedicated as you Danny."

Danny started to cry again and rushed towards Clockwork and gave him a hug. Clockwork looked surprised, but then looked pleased and happy as he patted him on the head. Then Danny rushed towards his parents and threw himself into their arms as they hugged him tightly.

Clockwork rose and started floating towards the portal, his work finished. Before he entered, he turned around and looked at Danny surrounded by his family and friends. "I see a very positive outlook for you Danny Phantom, or should I say, Fenton. The support of your family, their knowledge of your secret and this burden greatly angers your future self. Your parents discovering your secret may very well be the best thing that ever happened. Well, aside from gaining ghost powers in the first place that is." He nodded his head towards them and then exited through the ghost portal smiling, leaving them in the room, hugging and comforting Danny.

* * *

A/N: So yay, finally some action! I told you there would be some. Not directly, but I told some of you in replies. So, I hope you enjoyed it. Wow, now I have two awkward situations for Danny to bounce back from, the after-effects of his parents discovering his horrible future in this one, and the press conference in A Secret Uncovered. I'm not very nice to him, am I? 


	8. The Morning After

A/N: Thank you so much for all the reviews! You guys totally rock! I just wanted to say, again, that I realize that Vlad never found out about Dan Phantom, but I've been trying for the longest time to figure out a stroy in which he finds out and that one would take place before this. I wanted to have it done before I put that last chapter up, but inspiration still hasn't struck, so I just had to note that it happened. 

Anywho, I hope you like this chapter! This chapter is the beginning of the second half, which pretty much means that there's a new plot twist coming! I hope you enjoy!

Note to Kairi7: That's okay, I totally understand. You can e-mail me at darthfrodob through aol (for some reason it's being stupid and not showing up, so this might work, you'll just have to piece the two parts together). This isn't my usual e-mail address, so send me a note or something to this one and then I'll send you my real e-mail address.

* * *

Chapter Eight  
The Morning After

Danny awoke the next morning in his bed, his eyes sore from crying so much the previous night. After Clockwork's visit he felt a little better, but he still felt ashamed and distanced from his family. They didn't continue the party afterwards, since Danny was no longer in the mood to party and ironically just wanted to go to bed.

He stepped out of bed and started walking downstairs. He looked into the kitchen and noticed his whole family sitting at the kitchen table. His father was reading the paper while eating a donut, Jazz was reading a really thick book while drinking her coffee, and his mother was doing the daily crossword puzzle from the paper.

"Good morning dear, would you like some breakfast?" his mother asked.

"Sure," he replied quietly, still feeling awkward around them. Ever since he'd told them about his powers, he'd been feeling a little more awkward around them, and he could tell they were feeling the same way. After last night though, Danny felt even more awkward than usual, like there was an even bigger chasm between them that doubled in size thanks to his possible future. It seemed like no matter what they said to him the previous night, no matter how much they said they'd accept him and comfort him, the thought of the future still lingered in the air, in their thoughts.

He sat down next to Jazz as his mother placed a plate of bacon and eggs in front of him and smiled warmly at him. His mother returned to her seat and continued doing the crossword puzzle as his father and sister continued to read. Danny started eating, aware of the silence lingering about the room. They usually didn't talk in the mornings, but today was different. Usually they didn't talk because there was really nothing necessary to talk about, but today, it seemed like there was stuff to say, but they were holding it back. Danny himself was guilty, but he didn't quite know what to do or say. He had heard whispers coming from his parents' room well into the night, but he couldn't make anything out. He knew they were talking about him, but he didn't know exactly what. He knew something needed to be said, to be talked about now that he wasn't bawling his ghostly eyes out, but he didn't know how to break the awkward silence with an even more awkward topic.

His thoughts were broken by his ghost sense. He gasped as the blue mist emerged from his mouth. His family looked up from what they were doing to look at Danny.

"Can't they just leave me alone?" Danny asked as he went ghost and flew out through the ceiling.

"Alright, I'm only going to ask this once, so please answer me truthfully," Jazz threatened to her parents, drawing their attention away from the ceiling. "What do you want to ask Danny about?"

"What are you talking about dear?" Maddie asked uncomfortably.

"I heard you two whispering in the middle of the night, and I think Danny heard you too, because he was awake at that time. So, if there's anything you want to talk to him about, just do it now. He's not stupid; he knows when you want to tell him something. He's got a weird sense about that kind of stuff."

"Ghost Perception…" Jack mumbled softly.

"Come again?"

"There's this theory among ghost hunters that ghosts have this certain ability that we call 'Ghost Perception'. It's never been proven, but the theory stands that ghosts have almost a sixth sense and can sense when something's wrong or when someone isn't telling the truth. They also have a kind of foresight; they can see some things before they happen, giving them quick reflexes. Supposedly it's hard to fully develop Ghost Perception, but I guess Danny has some."

"Well, whatever it's called, Danny knows that you're holding back. I could tell by the way he looked just before the ghost attacked. So just get it out of your system so we can move on."

"It's just, we don't really know how to talk about it," Jack offered.

"If it's about his future, you heard that ghost…" Jazz started to lecture.

"No no, it has nothing to do with that. We said last night that we didn't care and we meant it. Last night, your father and I were just discussing a few things we've noticed, about Danny." Jazz sat silent, wondering what her parents were getting at. They never noticed anything before, so why should they start now? Was there something she wasn't seeing? "You see, we spent a lot of time observing the Ghost Boy when we were hunting him, his mannerisms, his attitude, his fighting style. Well, we noticed last night while he was fighting that he wasn't acting like normal."

"What do you mean? You think Danny's being possessed?" Jazz asked confused.

"Oh of course not! No, not at all. It's quite the opposite. We think that, if anything, the Ghost Boy is acting more like Danny."

"Well, that's really strange, since the Ghost Boy is Danny," Jazz remarked sarcastically.

"No, you still don't get it. This is why we're having a hard time talking to him about it; we can't even describe it to you."

"Give her an example," Jack suggested.

"Well, last night, when Danny was fighting the Box Ghost, I think that's what he called himself, he was acting how we usually saw the Ghost Boy. He had the cocky attitude and fought with veracity. But after he threw the ghost back into the ghost portal, he turned around and saw us, and then he floated down onto the floor. Whenever we watched the Ghost Boy, he never landed on the floor, he just stayed floating and then flew away. It happened the entire night. It seemed like Danny wanted to stay on the floor more than usual, which was uncommon for the Ghost Boy."

"Tell her about the blushing," Jack suggested.

"Did you happen to notice sweetheart that anytime he used his powers while he knew we were watching he blushed or looked at us weird, like he was embarrassed to use them in front of us? Before when we watched him he always liked to show off his powers and let everyone around him know what he could do. Now it just seems like he's embarrassed to use them in front of us, and I think that's what caused him to lose so badly before."

Jazz thought about it and realized that they were right. When she'd secretly watch Danny he never really hid his powers. He would show them off, and he had good reason to. Her thoughts drifted to the battle last night. When he was fighting the Wisconsin Ghost, as her parents called him, he never really showed off his powers, didn't use as many of them as usual. He merely just flew around and dodged the ecto-blasts shot at him, whereas he usually would conjure shields and blast just as many, if not more, back. Was he embarrassed to use his powers in front of them? Did he feel awkward about it? That would explain a lot, like why he felt so distant at breakfast. Jazz thought it had to do with his future, but maybe it was a combination of everything.

"You've noticed it too, haven't you?" Maddie asked Jazz. "He's not acting like his usual ghostly self because he's embarrassed about it. He feels awkward using his powers around us."

"You have to talk to him about this. He doesn't act this way around Tucker and Sam, so it has something to do with you. Maybe deep down he still thinks that you won't fully accept him? Maybe he thinks that your distaste for ghosts maybe doesn't extend to him, but maybe his ghost powers. Whatever the reason, you need to talk to him about it when he comes back from taking care of that ghost."

"Yes, where is he? He's taking much too long…" Maddie worried.

"I'm sure he's fine Maddie. He's good, we both know that. He can outmatch us any day."

Then they saw an intangible Danny fly through the table and through the wall into the living room like he had just been thrown. Another large intangible ghost floated towards the living room after him. The three of them ran into the living room to find Danny floating near the ceiling while shooting an ecto-blast at the large ghost near the floor. The large ghost moved out of the way and the blast hit the carpet.

"Give up Ghost Child," the large ghost threatened. "Give in to me and admit your defeat to the great Skulker."

"Um, I'm not even close to defeat. If you haven't noticed, I've had the upper hand almost the entire battle," Danny replied.

"This does not mean that I can't still defeat you," Skulker noted. He grabbed an egg-like weapon out of his suit and threw it at Danny, who just went intangible as it fell through him.

"You'll have to do better than that if you want my skin to cover your floor," Danny wisecracked back. Then the machine started beeping.

"I think I just did. Farewell Ghost Child, I will return for your body," Skulker stated as he went intangible and flew out of the room.

"Is that a bomb?" Jazz asked. Danny turned around to find his family in the living room.

"Quick, huddle together!" Danny yelled as he wrapped himself around them and turned them all intangible. The bomb blew up and let out a blinding white light that didn't harm anything in the house. It blew over the family as they closed their eyes, Danny praying that going intangible would be enough to save them.

They opened their eyes to find themselves tangible again, with nothing around them destroyed.

"Well, that's a relief," Maddie stated as she saw no damage.

"But what was the point of it if it didn't hurt anything?" Jazz wondered. Then they saw a bright light next to them as Danny turned back to human form and fell to the floor, unconscious.

* * *

Bright light filled his eyes as he tried to remember what happened. He remembered Skulker fighting him and then throwing a bomb. He remembered flying over to his family and turning them intangible. He remembered feeling a wave wash over him as he felt zapped of all energy. He couldn't hold them intangible any longer, so he let go. And then all he remembered was darkness. He opened his eyes and sat up quickly, afraid for the life of his family. If he had let go, they could have been harmed by the explosion. He found that he was lying on the couch in the living room, where the battle had taken place. He didn't see any damage, so maybe his family was okay. Maybe the bomb only affected ghosts, which was what knocked him out. How long was he out for? He looked at the clock and it read 2:30. Was it a school day? That would explain Jazz's absence.

He stood up and decided to wander around the house to see what was going on. Something didn't feel right. He was feeling fine, a little under the weather and tired, but he felt no outward pain or utter exhaustion. If the blast was only meant for ghosts, then shouldn't he have been hurt more? Maybe since he was only half ghost it didn't hurt him as much as it should have. He walked into the kitchen to find no one there. Then he heard noises coming from the lab. Of course his parents would be in the lab. Maybe they were trying to find out what happened with the bomb, or already knew.

He walked downstairs and found his mother and father tweaking with a bunch of experiments.

"Ghost alert! Ghost alert!" a siren started screaming as Danny stepped off the steps and into the lab. Red lights flashed all over the lab as a ghost shield closed off the entrance to the kitchen. Danny jumped back onto the steps as a glowing ghost net dropped where he was just standing. His mother and father turned around with fully charged ecto-guns pointing at him.

"Danny?" his mother yelled over the siren as she lowered her weapon. "What are you doing awake, and up? Shouldn't you still be resting? Oh Jack, shut that alert off, I can barely hear what I'm saying!" His father ran over to a box and pushed a button to turn off the alarm.

"Sorry dear. You should be able to come into the lab now without the alarm going off."

Danny looked warily in front of him as he stepped carefully into the lab, just waiting for the alarm to sound. When nothing happened he looked up, relieved.

"What's that all about?" Danny asked.

"Well, we heard that ghost say that he would be back for you, so we set up security measures to protect you while you were out. We put the Ghost Shield up around the house in case he tried to get in from outside and we turned on the lab alarm system in case the ghost wanted to come through the portal."

"What happened?" Danny asked, now extremely curious at what would make them go to such extreme measures.

"Well, the bomb exploded, but nothing was damaged. We just felt a wind, but that's it. Then we looked at you and you were knocked out. We put you on the couch and set up the alarm systems."

"How long ago was that?" Danny asked, fearing the answer.

"Only this morning. That's why we were surprised to see you awake. We didn't really expect that you'd recover so quickly."

"What was that bomb?"

"We're not quite sure. We're studying it over here. It seems like it was programmed to only hurt ectoplasm, or in other words, only hurt ghosts."

"But I'm not hurt; I just got knocked out."

"That's what's troubling us," Jack announced. "We don't really know what's going on."

"It seems there's some sort of powder inside the bomb; we found some residue attached to the remains," Maddie described. "We have a sample of it under the microscope." Danny walked over to where his parents were standing and his mother positioned him in front of the microscope. As his mother touched him, Danny felt a shock through his body and quickly recoiled. "Danny, what's wrong?" his mother asked worried.

"You're wearing the Specter Deflectors, aren't you?" Danny asked.

"Oh my gosh Danny, I'm so sorry! I forgot we put them on for safety against that ghost! Oh dear, are you alright?" his mother asked as she went to place her hand on his shoulder, but Danny jumped back. "Oh, right," she added as she removed the deflector from her waist. His father did the same. Then she ran over to him and gave him a hug. "I'm so sorry dear; I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Don't worry, it's fine. They actually don't hurt that much. It's just a shock."

"Really?" his dad asked. "Maybe we should try and make them more powerful…"

"As long as you don't wear them around me, I don't care," Danny commented.

"Is that why you didn't want us touching you so many times? Like that time we were stuck outside Vlad's manor?" his mother asked.

"Yeah. I wanted to be near you all those times, but I didn't want to risk being shocked. I'm sorry."

"No no dear, we're sorry. In the end, it was our fault. You were just protecting yourself."

Danny smiled. "So, what does this powder look like?" His mother led him to the microscope and he peered in. He saw a bunch of little green slightly glowing particles stuck to the inside of the bomb case.

"We think it must be some kind of biological weapon that harms ghosts, but we don't really know what it will do to you," Jack further explained.

"Until only a few moments ago we thought that it caused you to stay knocked out, but that theory's blown out of the ectoplasmic goo."

"Unfortunately, we have no way to test it and see what's really going on."

Danny stepped back from the microscope and grabbed a scalpel.

"Danny, what are you doing?" his mother asked.

"Well, you said you needed something to test it on," he said as he went ghost.

"Daniel James Fenton, you put that scalpel down right now, do you hear me?" his mother demanded.

Danny ignored her and pulled the white glove off his left hand.

"Danny, listen to your mother," Jack ordered.

He took the scalpel and sliced his finger open as green ectoplasm poured out of the cut. He flew over to a Petri dish and let the ectoplasm drip into the Petri dish. His parents ran over to him, watching as it fell into the dish.

"Danny, you didn't have to do that," his mother remarked.

"No, I did. You always told me that ectoplasm was really hard to get and you need it to test the powder to see what it will do. Well, I just happen to be made entirely of ectoplasm. I think I can spare a Petri dish full right now. Plus, this is to research exactly what's happening to me."

"Oh sweetheart, you're so brave," his mother cried as she hugged him proudly.

"Mom, it's nothing," Danny argued, annoyed. "It's just a cut on the finger; it's not a big deal. It's just like having blood drawn, it's really nothing. Now go test this so we can see what's going on," Danny requested, handing them the full Petri dish. "And don't worry about conserving it. There's a lot more where that came from."

The two scientists rushed over to the lab and began working on trying to find out exactly what was going on. Danny hovered over their shoulders, watching intently to what they were doing. His mother smiled over at him as she saw his glowing green eyes staring intently at their work. She was glad to see that he seemed to have gotten over his embarrassment at using his powers as she saw him floating above them. His father smiled to see that Danny was interested in his work as he continually pointed to things and asked what it was or what they were doing.

After hours of experiments, they discovered that the powder would insert itself into the ectoplasm cells and cause the cells to flicker after a period of time. This would only happen when the cells were exposed to large quantities of the powder, but they tested the ectoplasm again and discovered that Danny had a very large quantity of the powder in his system. They were still unsure of what it would do other than cause the glow of the cells to flicker. They were sitting around a table while Danny continued to hover in the air, lying down with his hands behind his head. They all sat in silence, willing their brains to think of some sort of solution to the problem. They didn't think Danny was in any immediate damage, since none of the samples had actually killed any of the host cells. Still, his parents continued to look at Danny every now and then, as if expecting him to drop out of the air unconscious.

Danny noticed these constant looks and finally had enough. "Look, I've told you, nothing bad is going to happen. It's not like Skulker to kill me like this. He likes the hunt and he likes the challenge, so he's not going to kill me off using a ghost virus and then take my body back to his lair. It's just not his style and it would do nothing for his reputation. He'll want the pleasure and honor of killing me himself and display my pelt as a kind of trophy. It's probably something to weaken me so that he can actually win a battle."

"Alright you scientists, it's time for dinner!" Jazz yelled from upstairs. Jack and Maddie stood up while Danny floated to the ground, a white ring forming around his waist, but then the ring disappeared. Danny looked at his waist quizzically and tried again. The white ring appeared, and then disappeared again, leaving him still in his ghost form.

"Sweetheart, are you alright?" his mother asked, seeing the look of fear on his face.

"I can't change back."

* * *


	9. Attack from Within

A/N: Thanks so much for all the reviews! I'm glad you all liked the twist. I know the whole Danny being stuck in his ghost form is a little over-used, but I have a good reason for it, I promise! You'll actually find it out in this chapter.

Alright, sorry again for the amount of time it took to get this up. In summary: college gives way too much homework and myprofessors are all conspiring against me. Can you say an average of four hours of sleep a night? Yeah, it was bad. Anywho, it's all over until midterms, so I should be back on schedule now!

Note to Kairi7: Sorry, I didn't realize that would show up. It's DarthFrodoB through aol (just put two and two together).

* * *

Chapter Nine  
Attack from Within

Vlad paced impatiently back and forth in his study, wearing a hole in his rich, soft carpet. Where was that fool? He was supposed to be here long ago. Did he maybe get into trouble? Did he fail to carry out the mission? Knowing him, it wasn't beyond consideration.

Finally Vlad felt his ghost sense go off and he turned around to face Skulker.

"What took you so long?" he yelled, marching towards the hunter.

"Oh I…went back to my lair for a while," Skulker answered slowly, not wanting to tell Vlad that the real reason was because he needed to fix his ectoskeleton because the Ghost Child had put up a rather good fight. He seemed angry about something, but Skulker wasn't quite sure what. It probably had something to do with why Vlad sent him on the mission in the first place.

"You were supposed to report back to me immediately afterwards! Did you forget that?"

"No, I…"

"Oh never mind. Did you do it? Did you hit him with the weapon?"

"Yes, it's all going according to plan."

"Excellent. At this very moment the powder is pouring through his body, weakening him, forcing him to submit to me. Oh, revenge is sweet. Did that boy seriously think he could tell his parents his secret without serious repercussions? That foolish boy and his loyalty to his parents ruined everything!"

Vlad started walking away from Skulker, pacing around the lab while he flailed his arms madly. "Of course his parents were going to accept him, I always knew they would. And now Daniel knows he's not alone in the world, which means he has no reason to stay with me. Plus, now he'll have brilliant Maddie and that fool Jack and their inventions on his side as well! Oh of course he's going to tell his parents about me, it's only a matter of time. He'll only use it as blackmail for so long before finally spilling it, and then my chances with Maddie will be ruined!"

"So you're still going on with your plan?" Skulker asked.

"Of course I am!" he yelled back. "That boy brought this on himself; he will pay for what he did."

"And you remember my half of the bargain?"

"Yes, yes, of course. Now get out of here," Vlad demanded as Skulker willingly agreed.

Vlad collapsed into his leather chair and stared at the signed picture of Brett Favre over his fireplace mantle. Yes, this was the right course of action. That boy needed to pay for what he did, and his punishment would be slow and painful. After a few days, he'll be crawling to Vlad, begging him to help him, to take him in, and Vlad would welcome him with open arms, which was more than Jack and Maddie would do.

"Why can't I change back?" Danny asked frantically as he tried again.

Jack and Maddie ran over to the samples and looked at them. The cells still looked all right; they were still glowing, still alive. They zoomed in, looking at Danny's DNA. They noticed that some of the powder was attached to certain protein chains of the DNA.

"Well, that's interesting…" his mother commented.

"What?" Danny flew over, asking them, the white ring still appearing and disappearing around his waste as he continuously tried to turn human.

"Well, it appears the powder has attached itself to several protein chains in your DNA."

"Let me see," Danny requested as his parents stepped aside to let Danny look. He saw his glowing green DNA with a few non glowing strands. Then he noticed that some of the non glowing strands had the powder on them as well as the glowing ones. His eyes went wide as his memory clicked and he turned around to face his parents. "Can you move this so that it's focused on the top of the strain and then take a picture?"

"Yeah, but why?" his mother asked.

"I have a theory," Danny stated as he flew upstairs into his room. He went into his closet and found the secret area where he kept his secret items. When he first became part ghost, he, Tucker, and Sam did a lot of research on his DNA for a Biology project. They had taken a bunch of pictures and samples of both types of his blood, as well as an analysis of his DNA to try to discover more about his newfound state of being. Afterwards they had found that there was a little alcove behind the wall of his closet. He thought that would be the perfect place to hide this incriminating information, since only a ghost would be able to get to it. He turned his hand intangible and grabbed the stack of papers and pulled them out. Then he flew back into the lab and placed the papers on the table.

"Danny, what are those?" his father asked.

"Well, do you remember that project I had to do for Biology right after the lab accident when I collected blood samples from everyone in the family to compare to my own?"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?" his mother asked.

"Well, when I was looking at my DNA I noticed that there were a few protein strands that were green and glowing, so we went back after school to do some further research and we took these pictures," Danny explained as he pulled the two pictures out and set them side by side. "One of them is my human DNA, the other is my ghost DNA."

"Jack, just look at him. Our little scientist, doing all this research!" his mother gushed as she kissed him on the cheek.

His father picked up the pictures, looking at them in amazement. "Danny, these pictures are amazing!" his father complimented.

"Tucker did them. But if you notice," Danny continued, flying behind them to point to the pictures "these protein chains are switched around. They're ghost in my human DNA, and human in my ghost DNA. Now, we're not any great shakes at genetics, but Tucker, Sam, and I believe that those are responsible for my ghost powers."

"Yes, you're quite right. The ghost ones may be responsible for your ability to turn into a ghost, and vice versa."

"We also thought that they might be the reason why I have ghost powers while a human."

"You can use your ghost powers while in human form?" his mother asked curiously.

"Most of them, but just the basic ones like invisibility, intangibility, ecto-blasts, ecto-shields, that kind of stuff."

"There's just so much we don't know about you Danny," his mother said in awe. Danny just blushed.

"Now, if you look," he started to describe, trying to change the topic as he flew over to grab the newly taken picture and flying back "a few of those human protein chains have the powder on them."

"So are you thinking those are the ones responsible for changing back into a human?" his father asked.

"They've got to be. There's no other explanation for it. You said that powder short circuits my cells, so it could very well be short circuiting my ability to change back."

"Are you guys coming for dinner or not? I've been waiting for the past ten minutes!" Jazz complained as she headed down into the lab.

"We've got a problem," Maddie explained.

"And it can't wait fifteen minutes while we eat dinner?"

"Jazz," Danny started to explain as he floated to the ground and looked at her "I can't turn back."

"What?" she asked. A white ring appeared around his waste and then disappeared again. "It's that bomb thing!" she yelled. "That stupid ghost did something to you! What did he do? Oh if I ever see him I'm going to kill him!"

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Maddie stated. "The powder it seems is reacting with the part of Danny's DNA that allows him to turn human."

"And you know how to fix it, right?" Jazz asked.

"Not yet, but we're sure going to try," Jack answered as Danny heard his father's stomach growl.

"It can wait until after dinner though," Danny stated. "You guys are probably hungry."

"But Danny…" his mother began to object.

"I'm fine. It's not like I'm not used to being in my ghost form for an extended period of time. Let's go eat dinner."

They headed upstairs, leaving the samples under the microscopes. The powder started to stir in the samples, vibrating quickly as the cells started to flicker in harmony with each other. The powder was gaining control of the cells.

* * *

Everyone gathered around the table. They grabbed helpings of the rotisserie chicken Jazz bought from the grocery store along with Rice-A-Roni and steamed broccoli (a constant when Jazz cooked) and reheated them in the microwave.

"Oh, this looks delicious!" Maddie exclaimed as she happily began cutting her chicken. "I haven't eaten since breakfast!"

"I never knew broccoli could taste so good!" Jack exclaimed as well as he shoved mouthfuls of broccoli and Rice-A-Roni into his mouth.

Danny started eating, but felt weird. He'd never eaten in his ghost form before, and he wasn't quite sure he liked it. He didn't feel hungry at all, and he didn't know what exactly would happen to the food once he swallowed it, since according to his parents' theories he didn't have any internal organs. In the end, he just eventually gave up and just played around with his food, occasionally taking a small bite. He knew his parents noticed, but they never said anything. They probably understood, since they knew so much about ghosts. He still felt awkward sitting at the table in his ghost form; it just didn't seem right. _Ghosts don't eat or sit at kitchen tables. I should be human right now, if it weren't for the stupid powder._

Then, Danny felt a slight tickle in his nose, like he was going to sneeze. _That's funny, I didn't think ghosts could sneeze _he contemplated as the sneeze escaped. As he sneezed, he felt himself turn intangible and he fell through the chair and the floor. He floated back up, concentrating hard to turn tangible again before landing back in his chair.

"What happened?" his mother asked, seeing the look of confusion on his face.

"Did you just sneeze?" his father asked, his voice slightly worried.

"I guess so. Wow, that was weird. That hasn't happened for seven months now. It's like what happened when I first got my powers; I couldn't control anything. I would turn intangible or invisible left and right, but that hasn't happened for a long time since I've learned to control them."

"Do you think it might have something to do with that powder?" Jazz asked.

"I don't know. The weird thing is, I always thought ghosts couldn't sneeze," Danny commented.

"They can't," his mother stated as she ran down to the lab, his father following after her.

"Jazz," Danny stated, turning towards his sister "don't tell Mom and Dad, but I'm starting to get really worried. First I can't change back and now I'm sneezing when I'm not supposed to? There's something wrong here."

"Don't worry Danny. Mom and Dad will find a way to fix it, they always do. They know what they're doing."

"Danny, come down here please," his mother called from downstairs, some urgency in her voice. Jazz and Danny looked at each other as they ran down the stairs into the basement.

"What is it Mom?" Danny asked.

"Come look at this," she said, pointing to the microscope. Danny walked over and peered in. "Look at the cells," his mother informed. He looked in and saw that now all the cells were flickering, and a lot more often too.

"What does this mean?" Danny asked, sounding slightly worried. He felt a tickle in his nose again and he covered his mouth as he sneezed. His parents flinched upon hearing the sneeze, and looked around, worried. What were they looking for?

"We think it means that the powder is controlling your cells," his mother continued, looking like nothing had happened. "If you look closer, the powder is actually making the DNA strands flicker, the ones that you pointed out to us. We think it's making your powers short circuit."

"How?"

"I don't know. Somehow the powder is controlling that part of the cell, and if a vast majority of the cells flicker at the same time, it'll cause your powers to malfunction."

"So it doesn't look like you're in any immediate danger son," his father said, still looking in the microscope.

"But it means that you are," he said sadly.

"What do you mean?" Jazz asked, fearing she already knew the answer.

"If my intangibility or invisibility falters, that's alright, but what if it's an ecto-blast or my Ghostly Wail next? What am I supposed to do then? What if you get hurt? I'd never be able to forgive myself."

"Sweetheart, we don't care. We're perfectly able to protect ourselves if need be. Plus, it's not like it's anything we can't handle," his mother comforted.

"So don't even think of running away and secluding yourself," his father warned. "We don't want to have to use our new ghost tracker to find you."

"Your father's right. The last thing we want is for you to run away. We need to work through this together."

Danny smiled at his family. He did think about running away, or rather flying away, and the thought still remained, but the fact that his parents asked him to stay convinced him. They really wanted him to stay, no matter what his malfunctioning powers would do. They wanted to work through this, together, as a family.

Then he felt another tickle in his nose. "Uh, not again!" he complained just before he sneezed and turned invisible.

"Danny?" his sister asked, looking around for him.

"I'm still here. I'm just having a little trouble regaining visibility right now," Danny's voice replied as he concentrated on turning visible. Not only were his powers getting out of control, but he was having a harder time making them work as well.

"I think I just realized something Danny," his father stated. "Right before you sneezed, all but a few of the cells in this sample flickered. I think the sneeze is just a side-effect that we can use as a warning."

"See sweetheart, things aren't as lost as you may think," his mother comforted as she wrapped her arm around Danny's icy shoulder.

* * *


	10. Shame

A/N: I am so _so_ sorry that it took me so long to get this chapter up. It took me forever to write this one part, and you all should know which part that is once you get to it. I spent three hours straight typing it one night and I got not even a page worth in Word. But, I'm really proud of it, so I guess it was worth it. So, thank you so much for your patience!

Thanks again for all the reviews! I'm glad most of you like the new twist this story's taking! I'm getting this really sad feeling this story is going to be over soon. I can't tell you how many more chapters, but I don't think it's that many. It's really quite sad.

* * *

Chapter Ten  
Shame

A large blast erupted from the living room. Jazz and Maddie ran into the room to see a rather large hole in the wall opposite Danny as he sniffed. Still in ghost mode, he was wrapped up in blankets and the ground around him was covered in tissues.

"Sorry about the wall," Danny apologized, grabbing a tissue and blowing his nose. "As I sneezed I saw the blast power up and I didn't really know where else to aim it."

"That's alright sweetheart. It's easily fixed. How're you feeling?"

"Like I have the worst cold on the history of the planet," Danny stated dryly with a hint of congestion. He was now exhibiting all the symptoms of a full fledged human cold, with unfortunate ghostly side effects, like the recent ecto-blast through the wall. He'd seen the area underneath the couch more times than he needed and spent more time invisible than visible. Then he felt the familiar tickle in his nose. He leaned his head back to sneeze as his mother and sister took cover behind the couch. He sneezed and turned invisible, his mother and sister rising from behind their barrier, grateful it was just the invisibility again.

"What do you think would happen if I just remained invisible?" Danny's disembodied voice asked.

"Probably the same thing that would happen if you were visible," his mother stated.

"But then I wouldn't have to bother trying to turn visible anymore," Danny reasoned as he reappeared on the couch. As the day grew on he found it continually harder to use his powers when he wanted to, and sometimes he had to spend half an hour still either intangible or invisible before he could return back to normal.

"Yes, but then what if it escapes through one of your other powers instead? Maybe you should be grateful that it's just your invisibility and intangibility that continue to act up."

"I guess, but it's still really annoying. It's just getting so hard to turn back, that's all."

His mother sat down next to him and pulled his head onto her shoulder, stroking his hair. This had to be hard for him. Not only was he already embarrassed about using his powers in front of them but now he had no way to control when they were being used. He'd been through so much this past week, and now he had some strange ghost cold. He had no luck at all.

"Danny, do you remember what I used to tell you when you were sick?"

"The Many Adventures of Peter Kent the White Blood Cell? Yeah, I remember. I used to love those stories."

"I still have the pictures that you drew of him," his mother stated lovingly, her eyes glazed over as her head filled with memories of white blobs in a super-hero outfits. "I remember you went through so many different super-suits, before you found one you liked."

"Yeah. It was a cross between Superman and Spider-man and his emblem was the Superman triangle with "WBC" in the center," Danny replied as he too joined his mother's feelings of nostalgia. Jazz sat on the coffee table next to them as she too remembered her mother's stories and Danny's fascination with the superhero inside of him. She smiled as she thought about this. Maybe this was an earlier foreshadowing of the real superhero that would live inside him someday in the form of Danny Phantom.

Then, before he could pull away from his mom, Danny sneezed again, turning intangible and falling through his mother. Maddie shivered as she felt him phase through her and then back out again. She couldn't describe the feeling as unpleasant, but she was quite sure she didn't want to experience it again. She watched as he closed his eyes and concentrated hard on regaining tangibility again. When he finally became tangible his mother cuddled him again, rocking him gently from side to side.

"Remember what I told you along with those stories?" she continued. "I told you that your white blood cells were fighting a hard battle against the cold and that you just needed to give them time."

"Yeah, but do ghosts even have white blood cells?" Danny asked skeptically.

"Well, they have some form of an immune system and I think it might be slightly more advanced than that of a human. So don't worry Danny, everything's going to be all right. You just need to give it time," she comforted, not really knowing if it was. Neither she nor Jack knew even where to begin when it came to trying to find an antidote. Jack was in the process right now of trying to extract more ghost energy for him, hoping that would help whatever immune system he may have, but they really didn't know. The problem was that neither of them knew anything about ghost immune systems, which made finding a cure extremely difficult. She'd been spending the better part of the night trying to learn as much as she could, but the research was limited. A lot of it she was being forced to do on her own time, and it was taking too long.

"You don't really think that Mom," Danny stated, removing his head from her chest. "You're just saying that to make me feel better."

"Darn that Ghost Perception!" Maddie cursed. It was preventing her from feeding him little white lies.

"What Ghost Perception?" Danny asked curiously.

"It's just this rumor among ghost hunters that you've confirmed," Maddie clarified as she went into further detail about the theories behind ghost perception. "I must admit your father and I have been very intrigued since we first heard about the theory."

"So you're saying that I can pick up on other people's feelings?" Danny asked.

"It appears so."

"So you don't think there's a chance."

"Now Danny, that's not what I meant. I'm just feeling a little hopeless right now, that's all."

"You're feeling hopeless?" he asked sarcastically. "I'm the one that keeps falling through the couch and blasting holes in the wall!"

"Danny, I don't think that's what she means," Jazz stated, trying to keep the peace. "I think we're all feeling a little hopeless, but that doesn't mean there still isn't hope. Just because we can't see a cure right now doesn't mean we won't see it in a few hours time. Mom's right, we just need to give it time."

"Let's hope I have time."

"You can't think like that dear," Maddie comforted. "We will get through this, alright?"

Danny nodded and rested his congested head on his mother's shoulder.

Jazz rose and decided to see if her Dad needed any help in the basement, sensing that a much needed talk between a mother and her ghostly son was coming.

"Mom, I'm glad you're here with me, helping me."

"Well why wouldn't I be here?"

"Well…it's just…I just can't help thinking that you'll start…shunning me because of my powers, especially now that I have no control over them."

"Daniel Fenton, don't even think something like that, do you hear me?" she asked as she pulled him away from her shoulder, her violet eyes meeting his glowing green ones.

Danny's eyes dropped down to his lap, not wanting to meet those of his mother. "I'm sorry, I just…I know you said you'd accept me, but I still feel weird, using my powers or being in ghost form around you and Dad, and I don't know why. I use them just fine around Sam and Tucker, but not around you, and I think it has something to do with my fear that you won't accept me. I kept thinking that as long as I didn't use my powers or do anything that would remind you that I'm a ghost, everything would be all right and back to normal. And now, because of that stupid weapon, everything is just a constant reminder that I'm a ghost and I just can't shake the fear that you'll change your mind after seeing how much of a ghost I really am." Danny started crying, his glowing tears falling smoothly down his face. "It's like I feel ashamed of being a ghost around you, and I know I shouldn't feel this way and I'm sorry, but I just can't help it." He wiped the tears from his face and looked down at the glowing liquid. "I mean, I can't even cry without reminding everyone of what I am!"

Maddie wiped the tears lovingly from his eyes and held her tear covered finger in front of his face. "You see these? They're just tears, nothing more. So what if they glow? That doesn't matter. It doesn't matter to me, to your father, to Jazz, or to Tucker and Sam, and it certainly shouldn't matter to you."

"But they show that…"

"Yes, they show that you're a ghost, but that's what you are, isn't it? And there is no reason for you to feel ashamed about being who you are, whether it's human or ghost or a combination of the two. Your father and I will love you no matter what, and we stand by that, no matter what ghostly side-effects you have. Yes, they may remind us that you're a ghost, but do you want to know what they really remind me of? They remind me of how special my son is, of how courageous and brave he is, of how he risks his life, or what's left of it, to protect this town, of how he never gives up and fights for what's right, of how proud I am of him for everything he does and has become, and most importantly, of how much I love him, ghost and all."

Danny buried his head into his mother's shoulder and started crying as his mother warmly embraced his cold body. She knew that he was feeling awkward about using his powers in front of them, but she never realized that he felt ashamed about using them, and not only that, but about being a ghost.

She thought of what it would be like, to be in Danny's position, to be a ghost. She thought of all the little things that would remind her that she was indeed no longer human or alive. She thought about eating, and how she wouldn't necessarily need to do it, about getting cut and bleeding green ectoplasm along with the blood, about triggering all the ghost inventions, about sleep and how even that was unnecessary. The more she thought, the more she realized that Danny was constantly being reminded that he was a ghost, and that didn't even count all the times that people would bring up the subject of ghosts or when a ghost attacked.

"Sweetheart, I know that being a ghost probably isn't the easiest thing. I'm sure that you're reminded about being a ghost almost every second of the day, and that can't be easy, but I want you to know that it doesn't matter to your father and me. We don't care. We don't care that you're a ghost boy, because you're _our _ghost boy, and we love you. You can't imagine how proud of you we are for being a ghost and for doing everything you do. You risk your life everyday, and we can't tell you how warm that makes us feel.

"It's no different from those superheroes you used to idolize. They weren't completely human and I'm sure they were reminded about it constantly, but they never gave up and their friends and family were still there for them. Clark Kent never felt embarrassed or ashamed about being an alien, and you shouldn't about being a ghost. And if it's something that your father and I are doing…"

"No Mom, this has nothing to do with you or Dad. It's just me. You guys have been great, and I couldn't have asked for you to be more accepting or loving. I don't think I've ever felt as loved as I have for this past week, which is why I feel so bad about all this, but I just can't help it."

"Don't worry about it sweetheart. I know this isn't something that can be fixed quickly, but I just want you to know that there's no reason for you to feel ashamed and that we're always here for you and that no matter what we will always be proud of you and love you with every ounce of our heart."

Danny lifted his head up and gazed into her eyes. "I know," he replied as he buried his head against her shoulder again.

* * *

About a half hour and eleven sneezes later, Maddie left Danny's side, explaining to him that she needed to go downstairs and help Jack with finding a cure. Danny understood, but that didn't mean that he wanted his mom to go. He was feeling really comfortable, leaning against her shoulder while she embraced him. In that half hour he didn't feel ashamed to be a ghost because he knew that everything was okay. He knew that it would still be that way and that they still didn't care, but it was just so clear while relishing in his mother's embrace. Now the haze of doubt was flooding his thoughts and feelings again, but he noticed with a glimmer of hope that it wasn't as hazy as before. His mother was right; it was just going to take time. Give it a few months or so and he'd feel perfectly at ease with using his ghost powers in front of them, just like he was with Tucker and Sam. 

Danny decided to sleep on the couch since the living room already had a nice burned dent in the wall from all his uncontrolled ecto-blasts. His parents had stayed up late into the night trying to find a cure before Danny got up and made his way downstairs, demanding that they go to bed. After much arguing they finally decided to obey and proceeded upstairs, falling asleep immediately as their bodies hit the bed. Danny headed to the couch and drifted into an uneasy sleep, dreaming of glowing white blood cells with ghost powers wearing his jumpsuit fighting in a war against specks of powder dressed like Plasmius

Danny was shook out of his slumber by a knock on the door and immediately sat up and looked around the room, paranoid. He was sitting in the front room, and stuck as a ghost. If anyone came in, well, he didn't think it would necessarily be the best thing for someone to see the infamous Danny Phantom in the Fenton's living room with a cold.

Jazz came running downstairs and looked at Danny.

"Go invisible!" she demanded in a whisper.

Danny concentrated, but nothing happened. "I can't!" he whispered back.

"Intangible?"

He concentrated, but still nothing. "Nope."

"Alright, then just hide under the covers. I'll make sure they don't come into the house."

Danny ducked under the covers, praying that he wouldn't sneeze and release an ecto-blast as he heard Jazz open the door.

"Argh, do you two realize how much you scared us?" he heard Jazz yell from the door.

"Why would we scare you?" Sam asked.

Danny pulled his head out from the covers with a sigh of relief. It was just Sam and Tucker.

"Yeah, we come over almost…what happened?" Tucker asked as he noticed the new décor of the living room. There were burn marks all over the walls and a particularly large one across from the couch where Danny was sitting. The floor was covered in tissues full of glowing green liquid. They looked at the couch and noticed Danny, in his ghost form, wrapped in at least five blankets, his nose raw and his eyes dull.

"Doing some redecorating?" Tucker asked with a smile. Danny and Jazz just glared at him.

"Tucker, don't be stupid. Danny, are you okay?" Sam asked concerned.

"Oh yeah," he replied sarcastically in a very nasally tone. "Yeah, I'm totally fine."

"What happened? Shouldn't you be getting ready for school?"

Then Danny remembered, he was supposed to go to school today for the first time in a week.

"Well, let's just say that I'm in no disposition to go to school. Skulker found a new way to make my life more miserable," he explained as he felt the tingling in his nose. He automatically lifted both his arms, extending one out to the wall and the other up to his mouth. He sneezed and an ecto-blast emanated from his hand at the large spot in the wall.

"Skulker had this biological weapon that released this powder into Danny's system. Now he's stuck in ghost mode and has some form of a ghost cold," Jazz explained as Danny blew his nose into a tissue. Tucker and Sam exchanged worried looks.

"Which pretty much means that I have absolutely no control over my powers, my nose is running like crazy, and I have a fever. Yippee."

"So, now you're going to miss another week of school?" Tucker asked.

"Well I can't very well go to school like this, especially if I keep sneezing ecto-blasts!"

"What I think Tucker was trying to say was: do we need to think up an excuse for why you're still not at school even though you said you would be?"

"Yeah."

"Alright it's not that hard. We'll just say that over the night Danny caught the flu and has it really bad," Jazz explained. "It shouldn't be too hard to believe, since his immune system would be weak after the electrocution."

"Wow, you just can't get a break," Tucker remarked.

"Tell me about it." He felt a sneeze coming on and automatically raised both his arms like before. This time he merely turned intangible and fell through the couch.

"Just like old times, huh?" Sam asked with a smile.

"Unfortunately. I've seen the underside of this couch more times than I can ever wish," Danny lamented as he regained tangibility on the couch.

"So how much spare change have you found under the couch?" Tucker asked.

Danny laughed, for the first time in a while. "Three dollars and seventy one cents."

"Wow. That's impressive. What else…?"

"Tucker, this isn't the time! Danny's sick!" Sam reprimanded.

"I was just trying to cheer him up."

"Listen, this isn't something for the two of you to worry about. Mom and Dad have been spending every waking second in that lab trying to find a cure, so don't worry. Danny's in no immediate danger."

"Are you sure?" Sam asked.

"Positive. They'll find the cure and then everything will be back to normal, well, as normal as it can be around here."

"But how can you be sure?"

Danny smiled at Sam's protective nature. She obviously didn't want to leave for school unless she was certain that he would be there when she got back. As Sam continued to pester Jazz amidst her many reassurances, Danny turned towards the wall and looked at the large blast in the wall. He was certainly doing some damage to it. He figured it would only be able to take a few more blasts before he burnt a hole through it.

Danny felt yet another sneeze coming. _Speaking of blasts_ he thought as he raised his arm towards the wall. He sneezed, but instead of the expected ecto-blast, his sneeze melded into a Ghostly Wail. He tried to close his mouth, tried to stop the scream, but he couldn't. Finally the wail ceased and Danny shut his eyes and fell over on the couch, knocked out from the energy the wail used.

* * *

A/N: So, I hope you liked the chapter! It wasanother nice psychological one, which are hard to write, but fun once their done. 


	11. What Have I Done?

A/N: Sorry about the late update. It seems like any more I can't get them up in a week's time. All I have to say is I hate midterms, and plot bunnies. I've been spending a lot of time working really hard on another story idea that will be coming soon. I think I spent too much time because before I knew it it was time to update this one and it was already really late! Oops. Oh well, at least it's up, right?

Thanks so much for all the reviews of the last chapter! I'm really glad you liked it! I hope this chapter will be just as good!

And I've planned out almost everything else and I think there may be four more chapters left, maybe five, depending on if I want to end one earlier. Don't quote me on that number, but that's my prediction now. It's so sad!

* * *

Chapter Eleven  
What Have I Done?

Danny opened his glowing green eyes with a jolt as he sat up, remembering what happened before he blacked out. What he feared had come to pass: his ghostly wail was now short circuiting along with everything else.

He gasped as he looked in the direction he was facing when the wail hit and stared sadly at the remains in front of him. The wall separating the living room from the study was almost completely non-existent save for a few remaining pieces attached to the ceiling and the ground. The coffee table lay broken on the floor in many pieces. The television was completely demolished, leaving only the base remaining. The stairs and the wall to the kitchen were both cracked, pieces of paint chipped away.

Then Danny remembered with a shock that Jazz, Tucker, and Sam were standing near the stairs. If the stairs were cracked from his wail, that meant it hit them as well.

He jumped off the couch and ran into the kitchen, not caring if he was sick or not. He needed to make sure his friends were okay. He would never forgive himself if they were hurt.

He searched anxiously through the kitchen, trying desperately to find them. Were they possibly upstairs while his parents tended to them, or were they upstairs hiding from him? Were they even in the house anymore? Did they maybe need to rush to the hospital because he hurt them so badly? Did they pack up and leave to make sure they never got hurt again?

He breathed a sigh of relief when he heard their voices in the basement, but instead of rushing down there he walked down slowly, dreading what he'd see. He listened closely to their discussion, trying to judge how angry they were at him.

"Mrs. Fenton, is that really necessary?" he heard Sam ask in an exasperated tone.

"Of course it is dear, now just hold still."

"Ow!" he heard Sam yell.

He walked far enough down the steps to have a clear view into the lab and then stopped dead. He saw Sam sitting in a chair, her leg propped up gingerly on another chair. Her hair was disheveled and her face and eyes were red, tear marks lingering on her face. She looked like she was trying to put on a brave face, but he could see in her dull purple eyes that she was in pain. His mother was dabbing some glowing green liquid on the back of her head. Danny noticed with a shock that the rag his mother used to dab the liquid onto her head had red on it.

He turned to look to the other side of the lab and saw Tucker sitting on another chair, a bandage wrapped around his head. He was holding an ice pack on the back of his head and he sat up straight, like his back was injured. His glasses were missing and he too bore the signs of past crying and the dull look of pain in his eyes.

Jazz was sitting in another chair, her arm in a sling. His father was applying the same green liquid to a bleeding wound on the back of her head as another wound on her forehead dripped blood down her face. Her eyes were shut and her face was screwed up like she was trying not to cry again from the pain.

He couldn't believe his eyes. His friends and his sister, his beloved companions and trusted teammates, were injured, and he had done it. Tears fell from his eyes as he beheld them, covered in scratches and bruises and all sporting painful injuries and probably concussions, and it was all his fault.

"Sam dear, this will help you heal faster," Maddie explained as she continued to apply generous amounts of the liquid to her wounds.

"But does it have to hurt so much? You'd think that something that'll help me won't – "

"Danny!" Jazz yelled, sounding strangely relieved to see him. Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at him standing awkwardly in the doorway, tears pouring down his face. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be resting?"

"I…I…" he stuttered. He couldn't talk, he was still in shock. He couldn't believe it. He'd hurt the ones he loved, the ones that he cared about more than anything. He'd always been trying to protect them, keep them safe, but in the end he was the one that had hurt them.

Jazz slid slowly off the chair and walked gingerly towards Danny. When she got near him she outstretched her free arm like she wanted to hug him, but he backed away.

"I don't want to hurt you again."

"Danny, stop being stupid," Jazz reprimanded gently as she tried to hug him again but he just took another step back.

"I'm not being stupid; I'm serious."

"So am I. Danny, nothing's going to happen to me."

"That's what you said before, and now look what happened!"

"Danny, this wasn't your fault," Sam comforted, still in her chair.

"Yes it was! It was my power that did this to you! It's my fault!" he yelled as he broke down crying on the steps. He felt so alone, so lost. He hated himself, hated what he did, what he could do to them still. He could have killed them. If they had fallen on their neck wrong or lost too much blood they could have died.

Jazz sat next to him and wrapped her good arm around his shoulder, her eyes now glistening with tears as well. "Danny, you didn't do this. It's that powder that's doing this. I know you would never hurt us on purpose and were we in normal circumstances, none of this would have happened in the first place."

"Jazz is right Danny," Tucker replied from his chair. "It's Skulker's fault. He knew this would happen. He wanted to weaken you so he could defeat you, and now he has."

Jack and Maddie walked over to Danny as well and placed their hands on his shoulders.

"Danny, we still stand by what we said before. No matter what happens, we're here for you. We want to help you through this, regardless of what happens."

"When you first told us that your powers were malfunctioning without your control due to that stupid powder, Tucker and I both knew that your Ghostly Wail would come out eventually. If we really cared about getting hurt, don't you think we would have just rushed off to school and stayed away?" Sam explained.

"That's right Danny. We all knew it was coming sooner or later. We were expecting this," Jazz soothed.

"If you all knew it was coming then you should have left the room, gone somewhere far from me where I couldn't hurt you!"

"Danny, do you honestly think we care? We're not total idiots. If we were really that concerned about getting hurt than we would have left the room. We didn't care," Jazz stated, stressing each word.

"Plus it's not like it's that bad," Sam added. "I mean, what's a broken leg and a few bumps and bruises? I can do that falling down the stairs due to my own stupidity. This is nothing."

Danny just kept quiet, knowing that continuing to argue would be futile. Part of him realized that what they were saying was true, but the rest of him was too racked with guilt and self-hatred that he wouldn't listen to reason. No matter what they said, it was still his fault. If he wasn't part ghost none of this would be happening in the first place. If he'd been able to beat Skulker quickly and not given him a chance to use the powder none of this would have happened either. In the end, it was his fault, and no matter how much they wanted to say otherwise, he knew it was.

"Danny? Are you okay?" Jazz asked, noticing his far-off look.

"Do you really have to ask?"

"I know you probably feel guilty, but just remember that we don't blame you for anything, okay?"

Danny nodded his head. He understood, but that still didn't make him feel any better about himself. Jazz smiled at him and kissed him on the forehead, glad to see that he was outwardly feeling a little better. She knew this was going to take a few weeks, maybe even months, to get over, but at least he understood that they didn't blame him.

"Come on Jazz, we need to finish fixing you up," his father ordered.

"Alright," she sighed as she stood up and walked back to her seat, cringing at the thought of having more of that liquid placed on her head. Maddie walked back over to Sam whose eyes went wide.

"Mrs. Fenton, honestly, I'll be just fine without that stuff. I don't need it, please!" Sam begged.

"Now honestly Sam, stop being such a baby. It'll be worth it in the long run."

"But it stings! Ow!" she yelled as Maddie dabbed more of the liquid onto her head.

Tucker laughed at Sam's misfortune as Sam glared evilly at him.

"Hey, you weren't that brave when you were subjected to it either," Sam snapped back, immediately silencing Tucker.

"Yeah, but I wasn't as big of a baby as you," he shot back.

"No, you were more of a baby. I don't think I've ever heard a guy scream so loud over something so trivial."

Danny managed a slight smile as he heard his friends arguing. They were acting just like normal, like they always did. Were they telling the truth when they said that they didn't care and that they were perfectly fine, or were they just putting an act on for him? Danny shook the thoughts out of his head. They wouldn't do something like that. They were telling the truth before; they honestly didn't care. They were bickering like nothing had happened, like they did every day.

But still, he had hurt them. It's his fault that they're hurt. They may not care, but does that really matter? It doesn't take the fact away that he had hurt them, caused them pain, endangered their health.

"Danny?" Jazz asked, again noticing his far off look. Darn her, she could always tell when he was thinking hard about something.

"Hmm?" he murmured as he looked up, an innocent expression on his face.

"What were you thinking about?"

"Oh, I was just wondering…what happened after I…"

"Sneezed?" Jazz asked, trying to finish it for him.

He was thinking more along the lines of hurting his family and friends and destroying his house. "Um yeah, that."

Jazz looked over at Tucker and Sam, wondering if she should tell him or not. She really wanted to get off this topic, but maybe once all his questions were answered he'd stop thinking about it and start getting over it.

"Well, while you…sneezed," Sam started to explain "we saw the wail starting but we really didn't think. If we were smart we would have ducked or something, but we didn't. It happened really quickly. The wail broke the table and then hit us. I got thrown into the stairs and my leg hit the railing, sending me crashing onto the stairs. Tucker was thrown towards the stairs as well, but he cleared the railing. Jazz was thrown into the wall across from you and she fell on her arm weird. Other than that, we really don't remember much."

Danny just stared as she told him what had happened, what exactly he had done. Fresh tears poured out of his eyes.

"Danny, don't start blaming yourself again," Sam ordered. "I told you because I thought you had a right to know exactly what happened, but you better not start blaming yourself again."

What she didn't know was that he had never stopped blaming himself in the first place. But he just nodded his head in agreement and Sam smiled. It was probably best to just keep them happy. Telling them that he still blamed himself wasn't going to get any of them anywhere. They'd continue to try and convince him that he didn't do anything but Danny knew that nothing they could possibly say could ever make him feel any better or stop blaming himself.

"Don't worry Danny," his mother comforted as she started wrapping a bandage around Sam's head. "Give it a few weeks and everything will be back to normal. We'll find a cure and all the injuries will heal."

"But what about the wall?" Danny asked, remembering that it didn't really exist anymore.

"Oh we've been thinking about knocking that wall out for ages!" his father replied ecstatically. Danny looked sharply at him, not quite believing him. "Well part of it anyways."

"Danny, it's just a wall. Easily broken easily fixed. Don't worry about it," his mother comforted.

"And the television?" he asked.

"We'll just buy another one. It's just a material possession; it doesn't matter."

"And now I have an excuse to buy that really nice big screen TV your mother wouldn't let me buy!" Jack yelled happily.

Danny couldn't help but smile at his father's comment. Typical Jack Fenton, thinking about a new television at a time like this.

As he contemplated his father's logic he felt his nose start to tickle, a sneeze coming on. In the few seconds it took for him to sneeze he started to panic. What if it was a Ghostly Wail again? Which direction should he face? He couldn't face up, since that would probably bring down the house. He couldn't face left or right because that would still hit them. He couldn't turn around because it might cave the stairs in and then they'd be stuck in the basement. Before he could make a decision the sneeze came, finding him still facing his family.

During the sneeze, time seemed to slow down. He looked at his family and saw them flinch, brief looks of fear on their faces. They were afraid of him, of what he and his powers might do, afraid that he might hurt them again.

Fortunately the sneeze only resulted in a loss of visibility. Danny breathed a sigh of relief and noticed that the rest of them did the same, their looks of fear turning into looks of relief. He regained visibility and felt his face burn red. Everyone present in the room shifted uncomfortably, not really knowing what to do or say. They knew he had seen that look of fear on their faces and they looked as ashamed as Danny felt for making them afraid of him in the first place. As Danny looked deeper he noticed a shadow of fear still present behind their eyes. They were relieved that nothing had happened, but he could tell that they were all still afraid of him and what he might do next.

His feeling of self-loathing increased. His own family was afraid of him. Their looks of fear showed him that everything they had said to comfort him earlier was a lie. They had just said it to make him feel better, but in reality they were scared of him but they didn't want him to know it.

"Alright Sam, let's just take a look at that leg and then you're all set," Maddie stated, trying to break the silence and act like nothing had happened. She pulled a large machine over to Sam's leg.

"What's that?" Sam asked, her tone somewhat false, like she too was trying to act like nothing had happened.

"An improved version of an x-ray," she answered simply.

Maddie positioned the machine and examined the screen, showing the inside of Sam's leg. As she looked at it, she kept looking up from the machine to look at Danny, as if she was worried that he would start sneezing again if she drew her eyes away from him for too long. He noticed that all of them seemed to constantly look up at him, afraid for their safety.

"Yup, just like I thought. It's fractured just below the knee," Maddie informed everyone.

"Alright, well let's set it and be on our way," Sam stated, sick of sitting there. She knew this had to be hard for Danny and she wanted to get up and spend some time with him, try to draw his thoughts away from everything that happened.

"Shouldn't she go to the hospital?" Tucker asked "Along with Jazz?"

"We can't send them to the hospital," Maddie answered. "They'd ask too many questions that we don't have the answers to. Your injuries wouldn't necessarily be consistent with any story we would tell them."

"But what do I tell my parents?" Sam asked. "They're going to ask how this happened."

"Just tell them that you fell down the stairs or fell off your scooter," Jack suggested.

_Or that a ghost attacked you_ Danny thought as feelings of shame filled his heart.

"They won't be as picky as the doctors would be," his mother continued.

"I don't know, you don't really know my parents," Sam stated with a smile.

While his parents continued to fix up the three victims of the Ghostly Wail, the room was left mostly in silence, occasionally peppered by pointless conversations to end the awkward mood. The five of them continued to look up at him at occasional moments and continued to flinch with fear whenever Danny sneezed.

Danny remained silent, not feeling like talking to them. At first they had tried to get him involved in their conversations, but eventually they gave up, probably sensing that he wasn't quite feeling conversational. In reality, he felt like an outsider, someone who didn't quite belong with the rest of them. They were all innocent victims and he was the guilty criminal responsible. This large gap stretched out between them. He was separate, apart from the rest of them. He didn't belong in the room with them, sharing in their conversations, he didn't deserve it.

Finally Danny just couldn't take it anymore. He stood up, drawing the attention of everyone in the room.

"Danny, are you okay?" Maddie asked, sounding concerned. Was she really concerned about him or just concerned that he would be upstairs without someone watching him to make sure he didn't hurt anything.

Of course his mother was concerned for him, they all were. They wanted to make sure he was all right. He tried to get the negative thoughts out of his head, but they just wouldn't leave. He couldn't stop himself from thinking them. Part of him thought that he couldn't trust what they said anymore. They had told him that they weren't afraid and that they'd all make it through all right, but the fear behind their eyes contradicted that. They were afraid of him and his closest companions were anything but all right. After that he couldn't help doubt their reassuring comments or their actions towards him, whether they were true or not.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he lied. "I'm just a little tired and I think I'm going to head off to bed for a nap."

"Alright honey, have a nice nap. We'll start working on the cure as soon as we finish with Sam and Jazz."

Danny nodded and turned around to walk upstairs, heading straight for his room. Were they that anxious to find a cure? Were they that frightened of him that they wanted to find the cure as soon as possible so he wouldn't be able to hurt them anymore. Again Danny tried to shake the pessimistic thoughts out of his head. They were anxious to find the cure because they wanted him to get better so that he didn't feel sick anymore. They knew it was causing him pain and they wanted to help him end it.

He walked up to his bedroom and shut the door, locking it behind him. He just wanted to be alone. Alone, he wouldn't feel that great chasm, he wouldn't have to face what he'd done, he wouldn't have to endure the awkward conversations and silences. Alone, he could start to cope.

Danny lay in bed for a few hours, letting his mind wander as he continued to emit harmless sneezes, which had now jumped to ecto-shields and domes. At times he managed to draw his thoughts away from what he'd done to something else, but mostly he thought about his injured friends as he was racked with guilt.

He heard a knock on the door but he didn't bother to answer it, feigning sleep.

"Danny, I don't know if you're awake or truly asleep, but I just wanted to let you know that Tucker and I are going home now. We'll be back later to check on how you're doing, okay?"

Danny still didn't answer, not really wanting to talk to them. They were probably just going home so they weren't in the house where their lives were constantly in danger.

Later in the day his parents knocked on his door, telling him that it was dinner if he wanted to join the rest of them. Again he feigned sleep and they left him alone. Tucker and Sam came back later, as promised, but he still pretended to be asleep and they left dejectedly, knowing that something was wrong.

Danny felt surprised that they even ventured towards his room at all. Just being on the same floor as him put them in danger in case a wail broke through the walls. Did they really want to spend time with him, to make sure he was okay, or were they just pretending to care because they wanted to make him feel better? Whatever the case, Danny didn't want to spend any time with anyone, for their own safety.

Eventually he couldn't stand lying in bed any longer and got up to walk around his room. Even though he was sick and depressed he still couldn't stand the thought of just sitting, he needed to move around.

As he walked around the room he happened to glance at his reflection in the mirror. He looked into the mirror at his white hair, his glowing eyes, the glowing white sheen surrounding his body. He was still in ghost form. He tried to change back again, but he couldn't even make the rings appear. He never wanted to get out of ghost form more than he did at this moment. It was his ghost form that had hurt them, his ghostly powers that injured them. He hated his ghostly self, hated what it had done. The shame he felt in being a ghost before was nothing to how he felt right now. He was stuck as a ghost, reminding everyone, including himself, what he had done. They all told him to forget it had happened, but how could he when it continued to stare him in the face?

He had to go somewhere else, somewhere where he wouldn't be constantly reminded of what he had done, of what he could still do. He had to run away.

* * *

Danny spent the rest of the night contemplating his decision. He didn't want to leave. His family had told him earlier that they wanted to work through this together and though part of him thought that they were just saying it to be nice, he didn't really think that was the case. They had sounded so honest, so caring that he didn't think they were lying. He really wanted to stay with them, to be with them, the ones he loved, but that's why he knew he had to go. He had to protect them, to save them, like he always did, even if it meant saving them from himself.

Late at night, while he knew everyone was asleep, he took out a pen and paper and wrote them a note explaining why he was leaving. He left it on his bed and sighed. He'd be coming back, but not until he found a way to cure himself, no matter how long it took.

He screwed his eyes together in concentration as he tried to go invisible and intangible. When he finally did, he flew into his sister's room, taking one last look at her before he left. He hoped she'd understand. She'd always been there for him, to help him, to support him, but she couldn't help him with this, not anymore.

"Goodbye Jazz," he whispered as tears fell from his eyes. "I'll see you soon, I promise; I'll find a cure. And I'm sorry, for everything."

He flew out of her room and into his parents' room. He felt so sad to leave them, now that they knew about him. They'd been so supportive and accepting and the earlier conversation with his mother remained fresh in his mind, but he knew this had to be done. He couldn't reward their support by hurting them.

"Goodbye Mom, goodbye Dad. I won't be gone long. Thank you for everything these past few weeks and I'm sorry I have to go. I love you."

With those final words he flew out of the house, watching the home that contained everyone he ever loved shrink away as he flew higher into the night sky.

* * *

A/N: Just a little ending note for DP purists. I know they've never mentioned a study in the show, but looking at the layout of the house, there has to be another room behind the living room in order to support upstairs, so I just decided to make it a study.


	12. Running Away

A/N: I am so, so so so sorry about how long this has taken me. Last week I had absolutely no chance to write. I spent my days either eating, sleeping (even that not very much), going to class, and doing homework. It really stunk. But this weeked I finally got a break and was able to write this chapter. Yay! It felt really good since I'd missed writing so much!

If you haven't read the note on my profile, then here's the summary: April's going to suck school-wise and I won't be able to update very quickly. Albeit it won't be as long as this one took, but it will definitely be more than a week. I'm really sorry, but I just don't have the time.

Anywho, enough with depressing talk. Thank you so much for all the reviews of last chapter! I'm really glad you approved of Danny's reactions and decisions. It means a lot to me. I'm really excited for the rest of this story, it's going to be good, I can promise you that! )

Again, I'm really really sorry for the late update. I truly am.

* * *

Chapter Twelve  
Running Away

Jazz pounded on Danny's door with her good arm. It was now ten thirty in the morning and although she knew Danny liked to sleep and probably could use it, this was getting a little ridiculous. He was hiding from them, she knew it. He was too afraid or ashamed to show his face so he'd just spend all his time in his room, away from everyone.

"Danny! You need to come out now! You can't hide in your room forever! We want to talk to you, spend time with you! Locking yourself up in your room isn't going to do anything!"

When she didn't receive an answer she started pounding harder. "Danny! You open this door right now! Don't make me break into your room!"

When she still didn't receive an answer or hear any signs of movement in his room whatsoever she started feeling nervous. Usually if he didn't feel like opening the door he'd shout something back or open the door, give her an evil glare, and then shut it again. But now, she heard nothing. She tried opening the door but it was locked.

"Alright, you've asked for it!" she warned as she headed into her room and pulled out a mini-safe underneath her bed. She entered the combination into the lock and opened it, shuffling through stashes of cash, family heirlooms, photographs of her and her brother, and other personal keepsakes until she found a little key. With a vicious smile she headed towards Danny's door and inserted the key into the lock. A few years back she had found this key in her parents' room. She found with great pleasure that it opened all the doors on the top floor. She had kept it in her room ever since, knowing that it would come in handy sometime.

She opened the door and gasped as her eyes fell on Danny's empty bed. She immediately ran into the room, trying to figure out what had happened. Where could he be if he wasn't in the room? Had he perhaps gone out for a flight to clear his head? No, he couldn't have. He didn't have enough strength or control over his powers to be able to do that.

As she searched frantically throughout the room she noticed a glowing vial on his desk next to a note. Her eyes widened in worry as her face paled, knowing what this meant.

Danny had run away.

* * *

Danny landed roughly into a forest clearing, his head and body aching. He had flown almost all night, trying to get as far away from home as possible. He knew that once they read the note they'd start looking for him, whether he told them to or not. The flight had been slow moving. He couldn't fly very quickly and at one point he couldn't fly at all, so he was forced to walk. 

He found a log in the forest and he sat down, holding his head in his hands as he shut his eyes, his head spinning from a combination of the disease and exhaustion. He was completely exhausted and he knew he needed to sleep, but he couldn't quiet his brain down long enough. He kept thinking about what had happened, what he'd done, and how he was going to fix everything.

He opened his eyes and as he looked around at the forest that was going to be his home for the afternoon, he couldn't help thinking about the one he'd left behind. Instead of a nice comfortable bed or couch he had a stiff, knotty log. Instead of the soft feel of the carpet he had the muck of the forest floor. Instead of a warm and supportive family surrounding him he had harsh shadows and beady-eyed animals.

He felt like crying, but he didn't have any more tears to shed. He'd been crying for so long that there was nothing left. His eyes were puffy and red from all the crying. He missed his home, his friends, his family, but he knew that he couldn't go back until he found a cure. Throughout the flight he started sneezing more than usual, and he'd shot off many Ghostly Wails into the sky. Were he still in the house, it would have been destroyed, and who knew what would have happened to his family. He was better off if he stayed here, away from everyone else, away from any source of civilization, away from anyone he could hurt until he figured everything out. He was doing this for the best of everyone, for their safety. He knew they'd be sad to see him go and he was sad for leaving, but it was necessary. He loved them too much.

He lay down on the log, trying to find a comfortable position but soon gave up, knowing there wasn't one. He shut his eyes and tried to quiet his thoughts and allow himself to fall asleep. Eventually he felt sleep creep at the edges of his consciousness, felt himself drift into the welcome world of sleep, memories of his family and friends lingering in his mind before all went black.

"Mom! Dad! Danny he's…he's run away!" Jazz screamed as she ran down the stairs, note and phial in her hands, tears running down her face.

Her parents immediately ran up from the lab, their eyes wide with fear. Did they just hear what they thought they'd heard? They hoped they didn't, they hoped they'd imagined it.

They saw Jazz run frantically down the stairs, her eyes wide with worry and sadness, a note in her hands.

_Oh God._

"Jazz, Jazz, please tell me…please tell me that's the mail," Maddie begged as they met her at the bottom of the steps.

Jazz couldn't speak; she didn't know what to say. She held her arm out, the note in her hand. Her mother reached for it, her hands shaking as she grabbed the letter. She sat down on the couch, Jack and Jazz sitting next to her as she unfolded it and let out a small sob when she saw it was Danny's handwriting. Green tear-stains were left all over the note, the black ink smeared in some spots. Maddie cleared her throat, prepared to read the note.

_Mom, Dad, Jazz, Tucker, and Sam_

_I'm so sorry to do this to you, to put you through this, but it was necessary. This was the only way to keep you safe. I know you said that you wanted to be here for me, to help me through this, but you can't. I can't stay in the house any longer, knowing that at any second I can bring it down, possibly taking you with it. I don't want to have to worry about hurting you anymore._

_I know you said that you don't blame me, that it wasn't my fault, but I don't care. It doesn't make me feel any better. I still feel guilty, tainted. It is my fault. If only I had taken Skulker out sooner, if only I hadn't become a half ghost in the first place. There are so many if onlys, so many reasons why I'm to blame, and as hard as I try, I just can't get them out of my head. Every time I look at myself in the mirror, every time I look at any of you, every time I see the damage, I remember what I did and how it's all my fault, and I can't deal with it._

_So, I had to leave and I hope you can understand. I also hope that you can understand my request to not come looking for me. I'm not planning on staying away forever, just long enough for me to find a cure or a way to control this. _

_I just wanted to say a few things. The vial next to this letter is a sample of my ectoplasm, just incase you need some more. I know that you plan to continue with your research and I figure this will help._

_Jazz, thank you so much for constantly being there for me and supporting me. I see now that all those strange moments or cryptic messages were you trying to help me all along, so thank you. I don't think I could ever have a better or more loving and caring sister, so thank you so much. Even though I may not show it all the time, I love you and you are my best friend._

_Mom and Dad, I can't explain to you how great the two of you have been. You've been so accepting and forgiving and I can't explain how much it means to me. I went from being afraid to tell you out of fear of losing your love to being more immersed in your love than I've ever felt in my life. I feel horrible having to repay you by running away, but I didn't have a choice. Please know that I love you with all my heart and I completely forgive you for everything you've done. You are the best parents in the world._

_Tucker and Sam, I'm really sorry I have to leave you out of this. I know we've never done anything apart and we've always fought ghosts and saved the town together, but I can't let you, not this time. Keeping you safe from another ghost is a lot easier than keeping you safe from myself. You two are the best friends a guy could ask for, half ghost or not. You've always been so accepting, so helpful, no matter what. I know it's probably not easy being my friend and you have to deal with many weird things, and I can't thank you enough for constantly staying with me. After the accident you never treated me any differently and I can't explain how much that means to me. _

_I'm so sorry to do this to you, after you've been so forgiving, loving, and accepting, but I have to. I didn't want to do this, and I still don't, but it's the only way. I don't want you to get hurt again; I wouldn't be able to stand it. I can barely stand it now. I've made it my goal to protect this town and I'll do anything to keep it safe, even if it means protecting it from myself. I love you all so much and I'll miss you terribly, but I have to go because I love you. I'm sorry to put you through this, sorry I couldn't keep you safe, sorry I couldn't protect you, sorry I hurt you. I hope you can find it within your hearts to forgive me. I promise, I'll be back as soon as I can. _

_Until then, forever yours_  
_Danny_

The three of them couldn't stop crying. The tears continued to pour from their eyes. They sat there in stunned silence, not knowing what to say or do. Danny had run away. They were still trying to grasp the fact, still trying to process it. They kept expecting to see Danny walk down the stairs or hear his laugh or voice from upstairs. They'd even be thankful to hear a sneeze, but nothing came.

Finally Jazz shook out of her state of shock. "We should call Tucker and Sam. They'll want to know."

Maddie and Jack nodded their heads, still lost in their own depressing thoughts. Their son had run away. He couldn't stand looking at them because they reminded him of what that stupid ghost cold had done. And he blamed himself. After all their reassuring he still blamed himself for their injuries.

"Sam, this is Jazz. You need to get over here right away, and bring Tucker." Jazz paused. "No, he's not all right. He's…he's run away."

* * *

After a few hours of near sleep Danny decided that he couldn't stay there any longer. He had to keep moving, had to continue on. He was still too close to Amity and if his parents searched for a day they'd find him. Plus, he wasn't getting that much sleep on the log in the first place. If memories of his horrible actions didn't wake him up, a sneeze or an uncomfortable position would. 

Danny stood up and concentrated hard, willing himself to become airborne again. It was taking so much energy to just float that he figured that soon he's be stuck walking. He finally managed to float himself above the ground and then took off, slowly gaining altitude, leaving the now partially destroyed forest below him. His Ghostly Wails had taken out a fair amount of trees and left a large clearing.

As he flew in the sky he felt the sneeze. He rolled over onto his back, prepared to place the Ghostly Wail into the sky but when he sneezed two rays of ectoplasmic energy emerged from his eyes and shot into the cloudy sky.

Now Danny was worried. Not only were his powers malfunctioning, but now powers that he didn't even have were malfunctioning as well. It was a good thing he left the house when he did, otherwise everyone would be in much greater trouble. Instead of a destroyed forest it would have been a destroyed house, and now everything was going to be so unexpected if his sneezing was starting to trigger his untapped powers. He didn't know what other powers he might have or what they could do to the world or the people around him.

He had to find a cure soon, something that would keep him in control of his powers, something that would stop his powers from short circuiting, something that would stop his powers period.

He stopped in the air, an idea coming to him. The Plasmius Maximus. If he could find some way to steal the Plasmius Maximus from Vlad it would disable his powers for three hours. Then he could go home and use it on himself every three hours, allowing him to search for the cure with his parents without having to worry about their safety. It wasn't a cure, but it was a start.

With newfound determination Danny pushed himself, willing himself to fly faster, further, heading away from the setting sun, towards Wisconsin.

* * *

Hours had passed while the Fentons, joined by Tucker and Sam, sat in the living room, staring at the note and phial on the coffee table in the middle of them. None of them really spoke and all of them continued to weep. They didn't know what to do, what to say. They wanted to comfort each other, tell each other it was going to be okay, but at the same time they needed convincing that everything would be all right as well because no one felt it would be. 

The sun was starting it's decent as the room was filled with the golden colors of a beautiful sunset, but no one cared. All that mattered to them was that the setting sun signaled that Danny now had almost an entire day to get further away from them. The clock read five thirty, the time when most families would start preparing dinner, but they didn't care about that either. The only importance the time had to them was that it showed them how many hours it had been since Danny ran away.

"We have to do something," Sam finally stated and everyone looked up at her, shocked to actually hear her talk. "We can't just let him run off like this. We have to go after him."

"You read what he said in the note," Maddie replied sadly, her eyes having lost their usual wit and sparkle. "He doesn't want us to come after him."

Of course Sam had read the note. They'd reread it so many times they each practically had the whole thing memorized, but Sam wasn't going to let that stop her. "Danny doesn't want us to do a lot of things but we still do them. He's not thinking straight. He's sick, weak, and has no control over anything. Who knows what trouble he'll get into?"

Everyone sat silently, looking guiltily into their hands. Of course they all wanted to go after him, but he did say that he didn't want them too. He seemed so adamant about keeping them away; they didn't really know what to do. Did they do what they felt was right or honor their son's wishes?

"Sam's right, we can't just leave him out there," Tucker agreed. "He's just being stupid. This is just the way he is. He tells us it's too dangerous to do something, tells us to stay behind, and then we ignore him and follow him anyways."

Everyone still remained silent, fighting within themselves.

"Well, I don't care what the rest of you are planning on doing but I'm going after them," Sam replied as she stood up, determined, sick of waiting around. She wanted to go help Danny, to find him, no matter what he said.

"Me too," Tucker added.

"But Sam, what about your leg?" Maddie asked.

"Who cares? I'll walk for miles on it if I have to if it means finding Danny."

She turned around and started walking out the door with the aid of her crutches, Tucker following her.

"Wait, I'm coming too," Jazz remarked as she stood up and walked towards the door with them.

Maddie looked at Jack and they both reached the same decision.

"We're coming too." The other three smiled. "But first, I think we should get some supplies. We don't know how far Danny might have gotten and we need to be prepared. He's probably not going to be near any civilizations, just in case something happens, which means we'll be roughing it on our own."

The rest of them agreed and started running around the house, grabbing as many things as they thought would be necessary. Half an hour later they all met in the living room, fully packed and ready. Jack pulled out a device and turned it on.

"Jack dear, what's that?" Maddie asked.

"The Fenton Ghost Tracker," Jack answered proudly.

"Honey, you know that doesn't work," she replied softly, trying not to hurt his already delicate feelings.

"But it does now. I just fixed it while you were getting everything ready. I put a sample of Danny's ectoplasm into it and now it's targeting onto Danny's signature. Observe." He held up the phial Danny left behind to the ghost tracker and it started beeping rapidly while repeatedly saying "Ghost Detected." "All we need to do is follow where this baby's pointing and we'll find Danny."

Everyone else smiled and Maddie kissed her husband on the cheek. "I knew I married you for a reason," she remarked as she pulled her hood and goggles over her head. "Alright everyone, to the GAV! We've got to find Danny!"

* * *

A/N: I hope you enjoyed it. If my planning serves me right, I think they may only be three chapters left, maybe four. It seems really sad, but I think that's it. I'm going to be really depressed when this thing is over. tear

Oh, and if you haven't seen V for Vendetta yet, GO SEE IT! It is by far one of the best movies I've seen in a long long time! It's just so brilliant! On my movie scale (which probably doesn't count for much, but that's okay) it's right after LOTR, which is saying a lot because I practically worship that trillogy! So go see it! Hugo Weaving (Elrond and Agent Smith) is fantastic!


	13. Recovery

A/N: Alright, like always, I'm going to begin by apologizing profusely for not getting this chapter up sooner. See, I think the real reason that it took me so long to get around to writing it is that I'm subconsciously wanting to put off posting it so the story will go on longer. Yeah, that's it. The fact that I have a lot of homework, had a run in with writers block, and that I spent the past three weekends straight doing nothing but playing Kingdom Hearts II has nothing at all to do with it. 

So, here are two things to make it up because I feel really bad about taking so long. So present one: this is the longest chapter so far, so hopefully that'll make up for it.

Present two: proof that I'm a total nerd and completely obsessive about making this story realistic. I went through and first calculated the distance from Oregon to Wisconsin, and then determined how many hours Danny had been flying since he left based on the previous chapter and how fast he'd be realistically flying. I took that information and plotted it on a graph on my grease board. Then I did the same thing with the GAV. My roommate seemed to think this was hilarious and scanned by grease board. So of course I hosted the picture on TinyPic for your entertainment.

Here's the link: http/i3. tinypic. com /vsm9nl. jpg (just delete the spaces, there are a total of 4 and add a colon and another slash after the http).

So yeah, on to the chapter!

* * *

Chapter Thirteen  
Recovery

Danny crashed head first onto an open plain, skidding across the grass. He groaned as he tried to roll over as his stomach ached with pain from landing so hard onto the ground. He finally managed to lie on his back and shut his eyes. He felt blood trickle down the stinging cuts on his face but there was nothing he could do about it now. Right now, he just wanted to rest. He was so exhausted that all he wanted to do was sleep, and he didn't care where.

He didn't know where he was anymore, and he didn't care. He had flown through most of the night, taking a few breaks, and then most of the morning. All he knew was that he wasn't in Wisconsin yet, and that was all he cared about.

As he lay on the hard ground, he started losing consciousness, drifting willingly into deep slumber. He faintly heard the sound of horse hoofs galloping across the ground and saw a shadow fall over him as he closed his eyes, falling into darkness.

Sam, Tucker, and Jazz didn't know how they did it. They left the house at seven that night and thirteen hours later, the Fentons were still driving. They had driven straight through the night, no stops. Of course they had switched drivers, but still, the fact that they were still driving was amazing.

All Jack and Maddie could think about was finding Danny. They felt neither hunger, nor thirst, nor exhaustion, only the desire to keep driving. The further they drove, the better chance they had of finding Danny.

All through the night the passengers would watch the ghost tracker intently, focusing on the green arrow pointing ahead of them, knowing that the green arrow was the closest thing they could get to Danny right now.

"Where exactly are we?" Jazz asked, after looking out the window to see unfamiliar countryside.

"Somewhere in North Dakota I think," Maddie answered.

" North Dakota? What's Danny doing in North Dakota?" Tucker asked.

"I don't know. Maybe he's just flying in whatever direction he can until he finds a wide open space."

"Well, I don't know if any of you have noticed, but North Dakota _is_ nothing but a wide open space!" Sam pointed out.

"Well, anyone else got an idea?"

"I do," Jazz stated grimly. " Wisconsin."

" Wisconsin?" Tucker and Sam yelled as Jazz nodded her head.

"No, he wouldn't be going there; he's not that stupid…is he?" Sam asked.

"What's so bad with Wisconsin?" Jack asked. "That's where we went to school after all and it's a beautiful place!"

"Because Vlad—" Tucker started to say.

"Vlad's house is haunted with that Wisconsin Ghost that wants to kill Danny, remember?" Jazz interrupted.

"That's right. But why would Danny go to Vlad's?" Maddie asked. "I always got the impression that he didn't like him."

"He doesn't. I can't explain it, but just, drive faster. We really need to find him before he gets there," Sam stated as Tucker and Jazz nodded in agreement, their faces filled with worry and apprehension.

"Alright, step on it Jack."

"Where do you think he's from?"

"I don't know. I saw something fall out of the sky and when I rode over to the spot I saw him on the ground. I couldn't just leave him there."

"Fall out of the sky? Alison, what were you thinking?"

"Dad, he's bleeding and he's knocked out! It would be wrong to leave him there, and we're the only house here for miles!"

"Yeah, he's bleeding green, if you hadn't noticed."

"Mom, a little support here!"

"She's right John, we couldn't just leave him there to die. The poor fellow looks dead enough as it is."

"It just doesn't seem right, that's all."

Danny groaned as the black unconsciousness began to lift. He heard mumbled voices around him, but couldn't make anything out.

He opened his eyes and the mumbling stopped as he saw three people staring down at him. One was a round woman with graying brown hair and a kind face, another was a muscular man whose gray hair was going bald at the top, and the third was a blonde haired teenaged girl who looked about Jazz's age.

"Wh-where am I?" he asked as he tried to sit up, but the pain in his ribs was too great and he slumped back down on the couch he was lying on. The three of them looked at each other, in shock at hearing his echoed voice and seeing his glowing eyes.

"You're in the Baker home," the woman replied, her voice slightly shaky.

"Where's that?"

"In the eastern part of North Dakota," she answered.

" North Dakota? Then that means I'm almost there."

"Almost where?" the girl asked.

" Wisconsin."

"Why are you going to Wisconsin?"

"This guy that lives there, he has something I need to get, something that'll make me feel better," he explained as he tried to sit up again but couldn't.

"Oh, you're sick? Well that explains everything, you poor thing," Mrs. Baker stated as she rushed off to get a blanket and placed it over his frigid body.

"That doesn't explain anything," Mr. Baker remarked. "Boy, why did my daughter see you fall out of the sky while she was riding?"

"Um, well, see, I'm actually…a ghost," he finished, knowing that outside of Amity, that wasn't going to fly.

"A ghost? Boy be serious or I'll throw you out this door, I don't care what physical condition you're in, got that?"

"Dad!" the girl yelled in protest.

"Don't bother, I'm leaving. It's not safe for me to stay here anyways," he replied as he tried to sit up again but was still too sore.

"No, you're in no condition to," Mrs. Baker advised. "Don't mind my husband, he doesn't like the fact that you're here."

"I don't mind the fact that you're here, I just mind that fact that you're bleedin' green, you fell outta the sky, you've got weird glowy eyes, and you claim you're a ghost."

Danny sighed. "Listen, I know it's hard to believe, but I am. I'm too weak to prove it to you now, but you've just got to believe me. If you really want to check I don't have a pulse."

"Now that isn't necessary," Mrs. Baker stated as she brought out a bowl of warm soup. "Here dear, eat this up, it'll make you feel better."

"Thank you, but I don't eat."

"Nonsense, everyone eats."

"Ghosts don't."

"Alright, this is getting a bit ridiculous," Mr. Baker remarked.

"I agree. I really don't need any of this. I just need some help standing up and then I'll be on my way."

"I wasn't talking about that, I was talking about you!"

"Listen, just don't worry about me. I've made it this far, the rest should be no problem. Just help me out and I'll be out of your lives and it'll never matter whether I'm a ghost or not."

"I really think you should stay," the girl said.

"I know, but I can't. It's just not safe."

"Not safe? Not safe from what?"

"Me," he answered guiltily. "Now, will someone please help me up?" he asked angrily as his eyes flickered a brighter green as he finally managed to sit up.

The girl bent down and put Danny's arm around her shoulders and hoisted him up, amazed, like she was when she first lifted him onto her horse, at how light he was. Danny grimaced in pain, leaning on her for support. "Let me help you to the door," she said as she slowly started walking, Danny's feet moving slowly with hers.

"Alison, I really don't think this is a good idea," Mrs. Baker warned. "He's not well enough to get up and you said so yourself that there's no one for miles."

"Mrs. Baker, I appreciate your concern, but right now I just need to get away from here. I'll be fine."

They reached outside and Danny stepped away from Alison, walking on his own. He turned around and faced the Bakers. "Thanks for your hospitality, and sorry I bothered you." He turned back around and shut his eyes, concentrating on trying to fly. He took a deep breath and jumped into the air, grateful that he felt the weightlessness he felt when he floated. He heard a gasp from the Bakers and he turned around with a small smile. "Um, I'm all turned around, which way's east?" They all pointed to the left and Danny smiled again and started flying.

As he tried to build up speed, he found that he was slowly losing altitude. "Oh come on, I'm so close! You can't give up now!" he screamed at himself. He hit the ground again, though not as hard as before.

Alison saw him hit the ground in the distance and ran out to him, helping him off the ground.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

"No," he answered bluntly as the other Bakers came running over.

"By George, you were telling the truth," Mr. Baker remarked, his voice filled with awe. Danny smiled slightly.

"Come on, let's get you back inside."

"No, I have to keep moving. So I can't fly, I can still walk."

"You couldn't even walk to the door and you expect us to believe that you can walk all the way to Wisconsin!" Mrs. Baker asked.

"I've done worse."

"Now boy, I don't think this is smart," Mr. Baker advised as he stepped in Danny's path. "You won't make it."

"I'll make it just fine; it'll just take me awhile. Besides, you people just don't understand! Every second more I spend with you puts you in danger!"

"How so?" Mr. Baker challenged.

"This disease, it causes my powers to malfunction. I don't have any control and they can go off at any second, destroying or hurting anyone near me. It already happened to my family and friends, and I won't let it happen again. So I left to find this other ghost in Wisconsin who has something that might help me cure it, so I can go back home."

"Home?" Alison asked. "Do ghosts have homes?"

"Well, I'm technically only half ghost, and no, I really don't feel like explaining how that's possible right now. I'm just human and ghost at the same time. Usually I can switch between human and ghost forms, but this disease seems to have short circuited that as well," he added bitterly.

"But why am I even telling you people all this? I need to get away before something happens to you. I appreciate the help and concern, but I need to do this by myself."

"But…" Alison started to protest but stopped at the look of fear in the ghost's eyes.

"Get away, now," he managed to warn through the building sneeze. He turned away from them, for their protection. He sneezed and turned intangible, and then fell through the ground as the Bakers watched in amazement.

"Gross, there's a dead bunny buried here," Danny's voice drifted from below the dirt as the Bakers continued to stare at the spot where he had been standing. He concentrated on floating and flew out of the ground, shutting his eyes as he tried to regain tangibility.

"Oh you poor dear," Mrs. Baker sympathized as she walked over towards the ghost and placed her arms comfortingly on his now tangible shoulders. "I wish there was something we could do for you."

"Mrs. Baker, the best thing you could do for me right now is to just leave me alone and let me get to Wisconsin before I hurt you."

"Well maybe not," Alison stated as she smiled. "I can think of something that would help you."

"The signal's getting brighter. That means we have to be getting closer," Jazz remarked as she leaned on the seats in between her parents.

"He's probably not flying too fast, if he can still fly at all. We should be able to catch up with him soon," Maddie remarked as she continued to expectantly watch the road.

"And then we can talk him out of his foolish thoughts of running away," Sam reminded.

"Or at least ask him why he's stupid enough to go to Wisconsin," Tucker added.

Jazz sat back down and stared out the window at the sky, hoping to see Danny's familiar figure up among the clouds.

"Danny, we're almost there."

"Come on, admit it. It's a good plan," Alison teased as Danny recovered from a sneeze induced Ghostly Wail.

Danny sniffed. "Alright, I admit, it's a good plan, but it still isn't necessary."

"Oh come on. You didn't just expect us to let you walk to Wisconsin alone, did you?"

"No, probably not. You're about as persistent as my family," Danny stated as he stared at the moving plains passing beside him.

"I'll take that as a compliment," she added with a smile.

The Bakers had decided that since Danny would do anything to get to Wisconsin and they didn't want him going alone in his condition, they would drive him there themselves. So, after ignoring Danny's complaints, they packed up their truck and headed towards Wisconsin, with Danny and Alison sitting in the bed of the truck.

It did work out really well. Since the back of the truck was open to the sky, he didn't have to worry about destroying anyone or anything when he sneezed. And now, he didn't have to walk, which he had to admit he wasn't too keen on doing in the first place. And, as an added bonus, the car was driving faster than he had been flying since he ran away.

"Do you think they're coming after you if they're so persistent?" Alison asked.

"I hope not. I left them a note, asking them to stay behind, but I know they won't. Thankfully, they'll never suspect that I'm heading to Wisconsin."

"Why not?"

"Well, let's just say that the person who I'm going to visit is the last place on Earth I'd want to be when I'm depressed."

"Do they know he has the cure?"

"Possibly. But in my condition, it would be completely foolish to go there."

"But you're still going."

"Yeah. I'll take my chances. I just need to get the device so I can go home, and nothing's going to stop me."

"Yeah, I've noticed," Alison teased with a giggle as Danny started to smile before scrunching up his face due to the incoming sneeze. He faced the heavens and sneezed. Alison gasped as another Danny appeared next to him. Danny looked at him and groaned.

"That is so not fair! I've been trying to do that for months now and I can never get more than a second head, and that's when I'm at full power!" He shut his eyes in frustration and soon his duplicate vanished in a ring of light. "Sorry about that."

"No problem," she replied with a smile.

"So, what's it like…" Danny began but was interrupted by the radio.

"And now, we have a special incoming report from Amity Park, Oregon."

Danny ran up to the window separating the front from the back. "Turn it up please," Danny requested.

"It seems that the ghost capital of the world is once again being plagued by a ghost invasion. There have been dozens of reports of ghosts attacking locations varying from restaurants, to the local high school, to a box store."

Danny threw himself onto the crate he had been sitting on and groaned. Now the town was in danger from ghosts because he could no longer defend them. This had to mean that his family was following him, because otherwise they'd stop the invasion.

"The poor town only wonders where its supposed ghost hero, Danny Phantom, can be. Has he finally had enough with all the bad publicity and called it quits, or is he himself responsible for this invasion? The people of Amity can only guess and hope that he will come to their aid soon. We'll be right back after this commercial break talking about the upcoming senate race…"

Danny leaned forward and held his head in his hands. Now not only did this disease force him to desert his family and friends, but the town as well. He had hurt the ones he cared about and now, due to his absence, he was hurting the town too.

"You-you're Danny Phantom, aren't you?" Alison asked. "The Ghost Boy who saves Amity Park?"

Danny lifted his head up and nodded before lowering it again.

"Wow. I hear about you all the time on the radio."

"That's great," Danny replied sarcastically.

"Hey, are you all right?"

"You heard the news report. Ghosts are attacking Amity and I'm not there to defend it. And now they're probably going to think that I arranged it all because I can't really tell them the truth."

"Listen, it's not as bad as you think. We'll be in Wisconsin in a few hours, you'll get the cure, and then you can fly back and save the town."

"Only problem: the cure really isn't a cure. It's just a device that will disable my powers for three hours. I still won't be able to fight the ghosts."

"Well, maybe just being there will be enough. Don't worry, you'll find a way. You can't do anything about it now. You've got to take care of yourself first, and then find a way to save the town."

"Yeah, you're right. But still, just another thing to make this day even worse."

They sat in silence, only interrupted by Danny sneezing an ecto-dome around the car.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?"

"Go for it."

"Why couldn't your family have helped you get the cure? Did you have to go alone?"

Danny sighed and turned to face the plains again. "When we first discovered that this disease was making my powers uncontrollable, I thought about running away so that my family wouldn't get hurt, but they told me to stay, that they wanted to work it out together. I was glad, because I didn't want to leave and the thought of working on a cure together was extremely comforting. My parents know more about ghosts than anyone can imagine, so I knew that together we could work something out. Then the Ghostly Wail came.

"It was so fast, I didn't really know what was happening. I was talking with them, joking about how much change I had found under the couch, when I sneezed and it came out. It threw my sister against the wall, breaking her arm. It threw my best friends against the stairs, breaking Sam's leg and severely injuring Tucker. It gave them cuts, bruises, concussions, and it was all because of me.

"They told me that it was all right, that it wasn't my fault, but I could tell that they were still scared of what would happen. My own friends and family were afraid of me. I couldn't stay there; I had to leave, to find something to cure it myself. I didn't want to danger them again." Danny felt a tear trail down his face and blushed as he wiped it off.

Alison leaned forward, looking straight at Danny. "Listen, I know I don't know exactly what's going on and it's probably none of my business, but I think your view on the events is a little biased."

Danny turned and found himself facing her bright blue eyes. "What?" he asked, caught off guard. The accusation was completely unexpected, but there was something else that made her question unsettling in Danny's heart. There was something strange about this girl. She just had this way of blatantly stating the obvious, finding simple answers to difficult questions or asking simple questions that demanded difficult questions, questions that made you look deep into yourself, made you doubt everything that you had thought was true. This was one of those statements. And the most unsettling part of it was that he found himself agreeing with her.

"Well, think about it for a second from the eyes of your friends and family. When they first found out your powers were malfunctioning, I'm sure they knew exactly what it meant and what might happen since they know so much about ghosts. And yet, despite that, still they wanted to help you, knowing the risks involved.

"And sure they might have been a little frightened, but I think you were afraid too. You still look afraid, but not of yourself, but of what you could do since you're not in control. Your friends and family feel the same way. They're not afraid of you because they know that you'd never actually hurt them.

"I can see that you're on a huge guilt trip, but there are things called _accidents_. People forgive, people forget, people move on. Trust me, I know. A year ago, I was driving my younger brother to school, as a favor, and while driving through an intersection, some guy gets impatient and thinks he can turn left before I make it through the intersection. We hit. My brother hit his head on the dashboard and injured his spine and slipped into a coma. He died in the hospital a few days later. I felt so guilty and placed the blame of his death on my shoulders. I kept criticizing myself and my judgments. Why didn't I just let him take the bus like usual? Why didn't I drive the speed limit instead of five over? Why didn't I notice him earlier? Was there any way I could have avoided the accident? I filled myself with doubt and guilt and I felt like I would die from it. I felt shame beyond explanation and forget running away, I went as far as considering suicide.

"But something stopped me, kept me alive: my parents. Through it all, my parents were there for me. Of course they were heartbroken too, but they held no ill will against me and comforted me more than they mourned. They didn't blame me, even though I considered it my fault. They told me that it was out of my hands.

"Thanks to them, I pulled myself out of my suicidal depression and here I am now. Of course I still miss my baby brother, but I no longer blame myself. It was out of my control. You're situation is the same way. You injured your family and feel ashamed and guilty, but in the end, your parents and friends will be the ones to pull you out of it. You need them if you ever intend to get out of this slump. Although, you don't have to listen to me. I'm just a silly Midwestern teenager and don't know much of anything. But I do know that you need someone to help you get rid of all the guilt. That stuff is like tar, it doesn't want to come off, and it needs lots of scrubbing by lots of people. The more on your side, the better. So don't turn down the people who want to help you, because you need them, more than you think."

Danny sat in silence, staring down at his hands. She was right. He did need his family's help. He had been going about fixing this the wrong way. The answer wasn't running away, it was staying with his family, talking to them, telling them how he felt. He shouldn't have kept it all inside, shouldn't have let his suspicions blossom into incorrect perceptions, shouldn't have doubted his family.

He looked up at Alison, his eyes glistening. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

She smiled back. "Don't mention it. And see, I told you this was an excellent plan."

Danny smiled and laughed for the first time since the Ghostly Wail.

"See, already thinking about it is making you feel better."

"Yeah, it is."

"So, tell me about your family. Our conversation keeps drifting back to your family, so now I have to know what they're like. My curiosity won't be satisfied otherwise."

Danny smiled and started regaling Alison with tales of not only his family and closest friends, but of life in Amity and the daily ghost attacks that plague it. He told her about how he became a half ghost, what was waiting for him in Wisconsin, everything. He found her so easy to talk to, so accepting, so trusting. While he talked to her he never felt worried about her exposing him, even though she never promised that she wouldn't. Somehow, he just knew.

Bored of staring constantly out the window at the rolling plains that all looked the same, Jazz shifted her gaze to the tracker, which at least changed appearance more than the scenery outside. She was lost in a stupor, staring at the ghost tracker as the arrow pointed in the direction they were heading.

Suddenly, the arrow changed to a dot. Jazz shook herself out of her stupor. "Mom, Dad, something happened with the tracker!"

Jack almost ran the GAV off the road in surprise as he stared at the tracker instead of the road. Tucker and Sam had both jumped up from their seats and rushed towards the front.

"What's that mean?"

"It means that Danny's within the immediate range of the tracker," Jack explained.

"It means we're really close to him!" Maddie translated as excitement flooded her body. They were so close now to finding her son, so close.

"I can't see him!" Sam stated as she continued to search the sky for a speck of black.

"Well, the range of the tracker is a bit beyond that of human sight, but we should be able to see him soon."

Minutes passed while they stared at the sky, seeing nothing, while the tracker claimed that Danny was getting closer.

"I don't understand. According to the tracker Danny should be inside our field of vision right now, but I don't see him!" Maddie complained.

"Maybe he's invisible?" Tucker suggested.

"Do you really think he had enough energy or control to fly and turn invisible?" Sam asked. "Besides, there's really no need to be invisible. He probably doesn't figure we're chasing after him."

"But then where is he? The only thing I see is a truck," Maddie commented.

"Wait a second…Danny stole the truck!" Jack shouted.

"Jack, Danny did not steal a truck," Maddie responded exasperatedly.

"But, he could be in the truck," Jazz suggested as a new light of hope shined through her eyes.

"Jack, step on it. We've got a truck to catch."

"Well, we're nearing the Minnesota border," Mr. Baker informed them. "Once we pass into Minnesota, we've just gotta drive through it which should only take about five hours, and then we're in Wisconsin. What part of Wisconsin are you headin' to?"

" Green Bay, to the Masters' Mansion."

"Masters? Vlad Masters? You know him?"

"Yeah. He was a friend of my parents' in college who has a major crush on my mom and wants me for his son. I try to avoid seeing him as much as possible."

"And he'll have the cure?" Mrs. Baker asked.

Danny nodded his head. "Before he became a businessman he worked with ghosts, and now it's like a hobby of his. He has something that will allow my parents to find a cure easier."

"That's good. Well then, to Green Bay."

"Hmm, that's interesting. That's the first car I've seen in hours," Mr. Baker commented. "Not many people know about these back routes; they usually just take the interstate."

Danny turned around to look at the incoming car and recognized the vehicle instantly. "Oh my God, it's my parents."

"What?" Alison asked.

"That's the GAV, it's got to be."

"But how'd they know you were here?" Alison asked.

"That's a good…oh my gosh. I'm so stupid!" he moaned as he remembered the flask of ectoplasm he had left his parents. "I left them a sample of ectoplasm! They probably used it to target the ghost tracker on to me! Argh, why didn't I see that coming!"

"Come again?"

"They're tracking me! Quick, hide me!" Danny begged as he dropped onto the floor of the bed.

"What good would that do? If they're tracking you then they already know you're here," Alison pointed out.

"But what do I say to them? I'm not ready to confront them yet!"

"Just say what needs to be said. That's really all you can do. Just let them ask all the questions they're bound to ask, and then explain. Then let them spill what they came all this way to say, and then you can head off on this journey together like it needed to be in the first place. That's all there is to it. It'll be fine."

Danny sat nervously in the bed of the truck, dreading the moment when his family pulled up beside them. It was going to be awkward, he knew it.

The GAV pulled up alongside the truck and Jazz waved happily from the window at Danny as tears ran down her face. Danny waved sheepishly back, his pale face extremely red.

The truck pulled over and the GAV followed behind it. It barely had time to stop before his mother threw herself out of the car and ran towards Danny, yanking him out of the truck with a large hug.

"Oh Danny! You scared us so much! We were so worried about you!" his mother gushed as she plastered his face with kisses.

"Mom," he moaned as he tried to pull away, which only made her pull him tighter. Then he felt more weight on his side as Jazz enveloped him, followed by Tucker, Sam, and finally his dad.

"I'm sorry that we didn't listen to you, but we couldn't just let you come out here all by yourself without our help. We just missed you so much!" Jazz sobbed, tears falling from her eyes.

"I missed you guys too," he replied as he pulled away from the group hug.

"Danny, I just want you to know that your father and I know exactly how you feel, probably more than you know. After the…torture, we felt so ashamed, so guilty, so horrible we thought we'd die from it, but we made it through, thanks to you. You helped us through it, helped us realize that things would be okay. So, we're just here to return the favor."

Danny stared at his mother. He didn't even think about the torture. They had to be feeling the same way he did, maybe even worse, yet they didn't run away, like he did. They stayed there, trying to make things better with the help of the rest of the family. "I'm so sorry. I wasn't thinking straight when I ran off."

"Darn right you weren't," Sam agreed.

"I just, I didn't want to hurt you any more than I already did. I didn't want to run away and if I had it my way, I'd still be at home, but I just figured that this was the only way. But then someone showed me that I was wrong" he continued as he smiled at Alison "and showed me that the only way to get through this is with all of you by my side. I know you've been telling me this all along, but I was just too thick to realize it, and I'm sorry."

His mother gave him another hug. "It's all right sweetie, we understand. I know it hasn't been easy for you. You really haven't been having a good few weeks."

"You can say that again."

"And I just want to state that if you _ever_ do anything like this again Daniel James Fenton I will put a ghost shield around the house for a week!"

Danny smiled. "I think that's fair."

"I'm sorry, but who are these people?" Sam asked.

"Oh, sorry. These are the Bakers. I kinda crash landed onto their ranch and their daughter Alison found me and took me in. Mr. and Mrs. Baker, these are my parents, my sister Jazz, and my best friends Tucker and Sam."

"Nice to meet you," Sam greeted. "Now Danny, what were you doing in their truck?"

"I'm sorry, but that was our fault. He couldn't fly anymore and we didn't like the sound of him walking all the way to Wisconsin so we offered him a ride."

"You didn't have to do that," Maddie replied.

"Oh I know, but he looked like he'd had a very rough time and we just had to help him. It's really no trouble. There's nothing wrong with a little road trip."

"Yes, but it's still an inconvenience and I feel bad making you…" Maddie began to argue when she was interrupted by Danny sneezing and shooting ectoplasmic blasts out of his eyes as everyone watched the green beams rise into the sky. Once it stopped they turned their direction back towards each other.

"It was no inconvenience Mrs. Fenton," Mr. Baker assured with a smile, acting like nothing had happened. "As we've told Danny at least a hundred times, it's our privilege. And no, we do not want anything in return."

"Not even gas expenses?"

"Nothing."

"Thank you, very much. You don't know what this means to us."

"It was no problem. And on that note, I think it's time for us to go, before you start trying to change our mind again."

Mr. Baker walked over to Danny and shook his hand warmly. "Well, it's been interesting, but it was an honor to meet you."

"You too, and thank you for everything."

"I hope you get better."

"So do I."

"Danny, you get better quickly, and find that thing you're looking for, no matter what. And you take care now, y'hear?" Mrs. Baker asked as she gave him a hug.

"I will, don't worry."

"We'll be listening for you on the news," Alison teased as she gave Danny a hug. "And don't worry, the pain will end. You're already on the road to recovery. Never lose hope, never give up," she whispered into his ear before pulling away. She handed him a slip of paper. "That's my e-mail and phone number. Keep me informed."

They ambled into the truck and headed back towards their house as Alison waved from the back of the truck. Danny waved back until he couldn't see them anymore.

"Go Danny!" Tucker yelled.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"You got a girl's phone number!"

"No, no, it's not like that, not at all. We just started talking and stuff."

"Uh huh."

"Seriously, it's nothing."

"That's what they all say."

"Tucker, give it a rest," Sam ordered harshly. "She's way too pretty to ever be interested in Danny."

"Oh thanks."

"I think Sam's jealous," Tucker teased while Sam stared daggers at him.

"Why would Sam be jealous?" Danny asked.

"Clueless," Tucker muttered.

"Hey guys, can we get back to talking about important stuff?" Jazz asked.

"Like what?" Tucker asked. "Teasing Danny is important."

"Like asking Danny why he was heading off to Wisconsin in the first place," Jazz pointed out.

"Yeah, why were you going to Wisconsin?" Sam asked suspiciously.

"I mean, isn't that the last place you want to go when you're in a bad mood?" Tucker asked.

"Well it sure doesn't help my mood but…wait…you guys didn't think…oh God."

"So wait, you weren't?"

"No! What do you take me for, an idiot? I'd never do that!"

"So then why were you going?" Jazz asked angrily.

"To get the Plasmius Maximus."

"The Plasmius…oh!" Jazz exclaimed as the light finally went on. "I never would have thought of that! That's genius!"

"Well, I do have my moments."

"Wait, I'm confused," Maddie interrupted.

"Yeah, me too. You lost me at the clueless part."

"Can I explain on the way there? I would really like to get moving so I can get better."

"Of course sweetie."

A few minutes later they had assembled into the GAV, Danny positioning himself on the roof so that he could sneeze to the heavens and wearing a Fenton Earring to communicate with his family below.

While driving, he explained to them the workings of the Plasmius Maximus, which took quite awhile since his parents, being the inventors they were, wanted to know every last detail about it, details that Danny really couldn't give. After his parents finally agreed to switch to a different subject, Danny explained that the first step on his journey into darkness was to visit Plasmius when he was really depressed, and Sam, Tucker, and Jazz all believed that's what he was doing.

They spent a few hours talking before Danny finally told them that he was exhausted and wanted to nap, and the rest of his family stopped talking to him immediately, knowing that sleep was the best thing for him, especially if he was going to be fighting Vlad later that day for the device.

As he lay on top of the roof, drifting quickly into sleep, he felt content and happy, even though so much bad was going on around him. A blizzard of misfortune raged outside his body. But inside, he felt warm. Inside, he felt comforted.

* * *

A/N: I just wanted to state that the whole Baker family thing isn't entirely out of left field. I was having a really difficult time writing this section at first, and I finally realized that because of Danny's guilt and doubt at his family's comforting words, whenthey finally met up with each other, Danny would still feel the same way towards them as he did before he left. I figured that he needed something to change his view, something to get rid of his biased view, enter Alison. Plus, we all know that he never would have been able to walk from North Dakota to Wisconsin. Danny's strong and he's got endurance, but not that much.

Anywho, that was just a thought I figured I'd share with you incase you were wondering where that was coming from.

Two chapters and counting. tear


	14. Assault on the Masters Mansion

A/N: See, I told you it would be up within a week! Granted it's exactly a week, but that's beside the point. It's amazing what telling yourself that you can't play KH II until you finish the chapter can do for your writers block!

Anywho, I know I said there are only two more chapters left, but after writing this one, I decided I should make it three (and you'll see why when you get to the end) so _now_ there are two more chapters left.

* * *

Chapter Fourteen  
Assault on the Masters Mansion

"Danny, we're nearing the Wisconsin border," his mother informed him. Danny lifted his gaze from the orange sky and looked ahead, his heart leaping as he saw the "Welcome to Wisconsin" sign.

"So, where exactly are we going in Wisconsin?" his father asked.

"Umm…is 'I can't tell you' going to work?"

"Danny," his mother warned.

Danny sighed. He knew he was going to have to tell them at some point, it might as well be now. He wanted the opportunity to hold the information over Vlad, but he figured that now was as good a time as ever, especially since when Vlad finds out that his parents know it might weaken him a little, and anything to weaken Vlad right now was appreciated. He knew Vlad wouldn't be willing to give over the Plasmius Maximus freely.

"We're going to Vlad's."

"Why are we going to Vlad's?" his mother asked. "It's not like we need a place to stay for the night, not that we'd ever stay at _his_ house," she added bitterly.

"Well, Vlad's the Wisconsin Ghost."

"What?" both his parents yelled as one as Jack slammed on the breaks, sending Danny flying off the roof of the GAV. He closed his eyes, concentrating, praying that he still had some control. Thankfully he managed to turn intangible and fly through the road instead of skidding across it. He'd skid across more ground in the past few days than he had his entire life. He floated out of the ground and landed.

"Dad! Look what you did!" Jazz yelled at him as she rushed out of the GAV towards Danny.

"Jazz, I'm fine."

"But if you hadn't been able to go intangible you wouldn't be. They shouldn't count on you being able to use your powers since you don't…" she stopped as she saw Maddie and Jack walk out of the GAV as if in a daze.

"Danny, wha-what did you say?" Maddie asked as she leaned on Jack for support, who was leaning on the GAV.

"Listen, Vlad is the Wisconsin Ghost. Back in college when you created the first portal, Vlad's head was shoved inside, making him a half ghost, like me. Except, he's used his ghost powers to steal and rob, making him the great businessman he is today, and now he's using them to try and kill Dad and corrupt me."

"But why would he…oh," his mother finished, catching on while Danny nodded.

"Wait what?" his confused father still asked. "Why would Vladdie want to kill me?"

"Nevermind. He wants to steal me from you, make me _his_ son and help him take over the Ghost Zone."

"I just…are you sure he's the Wisconsin Ghost?" his mother asked. "Sure he might be half ghost, but he may not be the Wisconsin Ghost."

"Mom, he is, trust me. I usually make it a point to know who I'm fighting."

"I know it's hard Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, but it's true," Sam verified.

"But…but Vladdie would never do anything like that," Jack reasoned meekly.

"Um, don't you remember earlier when he came into the basement the night of the party, or when he overshadowed you at the reunion, or when you fought him in the basement when there was a reward on my head? He's bad news."

"Wait, that night at the cabin, he sent those ghosts after us, and he hired that ghost pilot too so that we'd conveniently crash over his cabin," Maddie figured out.

Danny nodded his head, glad that at least his mother was starting to understand. Then again, she'd seen a different side of Vlad than his father ever did.

"What cabin?" Jack asked.

"Long story, tell you later," Danny answered quickly. His father was already confused enough and he didn't want to add to it.

"So let me get this straight: all this time Vlad's been a half ghost using his ghost powers for evil and hurting you," his mother summarized.

"Yeah, pretty much."

She turned her head towards Wisconsin and narrowed her eyes menacingly. "Vlad, you are so going down. Everyone back in the GAV," she demanded.

Danny immediately jumped onto the top of the car and Jazz, Tucker, and Sam rushed back inside and took their seats.

"But-but Vlad…" Jack trailed off, his eyes glazed over like he still couldn't grasp the fact that his college buddy wasn't really so much of a buddy after all.

"Jack, get into the car and I'll explain it on the way," Maddie ordered and he marched into the car, heading for the drivers seat but Maddie shoved him out of the way. "I'm driving."

She buckled herself in and clutched the steering wheel, her eyes glaring at the border like the state itself had harmed her and her son just by housing Vlad.

"Danny, I'd find something to hold on to," Jazz advised and Danny grabbed onto a railing as Maddie floored it, sending the car into rapid acceleration towards Wisconsin.

* * *

They spent the next hour trying to drag Jack out of his shocked stupor, but after he regained normal functioning, they managed to convince him of the terrors that Vlad had done and was planning to do and he felt as angry and betrayed as Maddie. 

A few hours later the Masters mansion was in sight. They pulled over on a nearby street, hidden from the manor so Vlad didn't spot their arrival.

"You know, I think that drive was supposed to take a lot more time," Sam stated as she yawned and looked at her watch.

"Not when my mom's driving," Jazz responded as she too fell victim to the contagious yawn.

"I always thought your mom was the good driver of the family."

"Not when she's pissed."

"Sweetie, how are you doing up there?" Maddie asked as she finally tore her attention away from glaring evilly at the mansion.

"I'm doing great, all six of me," Danny stated unenthusiastically as he looked at his other replicas.

"Six of you?" she asked in confusion.

"Sweet! You've finally learned duplication!" Tucker yelled as he jumped out of his seat and ran outside to look at the multiple Danny's. "Actually, I'd say you mastered it."

"Far from it. It's just the disease trying to torture me further by teasing me. Only problem: I can't get rid of them, so they've just been, piling up."

"Well, now you'll have six Dannys to fight the six Vlads."

"Well that would be a good plan, if being split six ways didn't totally zap me of all the energy I'll probably need to fight him in the first place."

"Speaking of which, what's our plan of action?" Jazz asked as she joined Tucker outside.

"Well, once I find a way to pull myself together, I was thinking about just sneaking in, see how far I can get before he notices me."

"I? Me? What's with all the first person pronouns?" Sam asked suspiciously.

"I want you guys to wait, make him think that I came here alone. If I need your help, well, you'll probably know."

"Well we know you're going to need our help anyways because even on a good day you have a hard time beating him, so what's the point?"

"Thank you Tucker for your words of encouragement. The point is that a cocky Vlad gets careless and a disheveled Vlad makes mistakes. So put the two of them together and you get a lot of mistakes, which I can use to my advantage. The Plasmius Maximus is as good as mine."

"Look at him Maddie, our baby boy, planning his own ghost onslaught," Jack gushed as he sniffed, his eyes watering. "I'm so proud."

"What if Vlad stays asleep the entire time?" Maddie asked. "Then you may not even need to fight him."

"He won't," Danny, Jazz, Tucker, and Sam answered.

"That's just our luck," Sam explained. "Well, Danny's luck anyway."

"So, we're just supposed to wait outside while you get beaten up?" Maddie asked.

"Not outside, just nearby. You need to stay out of Vlad's sight until I start screaming a lot."

"But there's still the whole 'you screaming' part of the plan that I don't like."

"I know, but that's what has to be done. Don't worry, it's not like I haven't been hurt by him before," Danny reminded them as he smiled, all the other Dannys finally vanishing. He looked around him. "Oh thank God. I was sick of seeing myself everywhere." He jumped off the GAV and started heading towards the manor. Jack and Maddie loaded themselves up with weapons and followed after him.

"Danny, what if there's a ghost shield around the mansion?" Jack asked as they reached the iron gates surrounding the property.

"There won't be. Vlad has ghosts reporting to him all the time and they need free access in and out of the mansion, and so does he. Alright, everyone grab onto me."

"You're not going to faze us through the gate, are you?" Jazz asked worried.

"You got another idea?"

"No, but I don't want you wasting your energy."

"It's all right. It's just intangibility; it's not like it's that hard. Once we're all intangible, we need to run through the gate and the door."

They nodded their heads in understanding and did as they were told while Danny closed his eyes as he concentrated, turning each of them intangible one by one. They started running through the gate and across the courtyard, finally stopping once they were inside the large oak doors. Danny collapsed onto the floor, immediately turning tangible.

"Danny!" Jazz whispered urgently as she knelt next to him.

"I'm okay, just, really tired."

"This is a bad idea."

"No, I have to do this. It's the only way. I need to neutralize my powers, there's no other way. We need to head to the study." He tried to stand up on his own but he was too tired.

"Jack, pick him up," Maddie ordered as Danny leaned on Jazz to stand.

"No, that's not necessary."

"Danny," his mother warned.

Danny sighed, realizing it was pointless to argue. "Fine."

Jack easily lifted Danny and carried him bridal style as Jazz lead them to the study. While he was grateful that he didn't have to walk and he'd get a chance to conserve his energy, he did feel foolish, being carried by his father on _his_ mission, through Vlad's house of all places. If Vlad saw them he'd feel so stupid. But Alison's words about needing his family's support crept into his head and he realized that this was one of those moments.

They entered the study and Jazz lifted the football trophy on the fireplace mantel, revealing the entrance to Vlad's secret lab.

"Alright, Vlad would have heard that, and I think he has an alarm on this place, so you guys need to hide in here where he won't see you."

They nodded their heads and Danny smiled at them as he headed down slowly into the lab. Once he reached the bottom of the steps, he felt the tickle in his nose. _Well, there was one way Vlad would know he was here_ he thought as he sneezed, creating an ecto-dome around him, but it quickly faded as he didn't have enough energy to keep it up. _At least it didn't happen when we were walking through the house, _Danny thanked.

Knowing he didn't have long he started looking for the Plasmius Maximus. It had to be here somewhere. He started opening drawers, scanning the devices on the tables, opening cabinets, but it was no where to be found. How was it that he could find stuff easier in his parents' disorganized basement than he could in Vlad's organized one?

"Ah yes, I knew you'd come here. You're looking for the Plasmius Maximus I believe?" Vlad's silky voice asked.

Danny whipped around, glaring at Vlad. "No wonder why I couldn't find it," he remarked as he noticed Vlad holding the device tauntingly in his hand.

Vlad smiled. "Of course not my dear boy. I wouldn't leave something so important to you laying about where you could easily sneak off with it. That would defeat the purpose."

"The purpose…wait, how did you know I'd be looking for it?"

"To cancel out your powers of course. Really Daniel, using this to solve your problem isn't _that_ ingenious of an idea."

"Wait a minute, you know about the disease?"

"Know? Of course I know; I created the powder."

"You what?" Danny asked venomously, his eyes glowing in pure rage.

"Isn't it obvious? I'd been working on this powder for ages and after our little encounter I knew it was time to use it, so I sent it to Skulker to use on you. After you decided to tell your parents about being a ghost I knew I had to punish you somehow, make you suffer, and it looks like I succeeded perfectly. Your parents may have accepted you before because they knew that you could turn back into a human at any moment, but tell me Daniel, do they still accept you now that you're stuck as a ghost, as the thing they hate the most?"

Danny kept his gaze steady with Vlad, not showing him any change in emotion. He knew that what Vlad was saying wasn't true. His parents didn't see him any differently. They came running after him all this way because they wanted to help him. Still, he kept a straight face, pretending to look downcast, pretending that what Vlad said really was true.

"I knew it. Did you happen to lose control? Did you hurt them? Injure them?"

Danny narrowed his eyes in anger. _That_, was a little too close to home and none of his business.

Vlad, however, looked positively thrilled. "So that's why you came here alone and without the help of your little posse. They're afraid of you, now that you can't control yourself. They're afraid you'll hurt them again. You're afraid that you'll hurt them again."

Danny lunged at Vlad in anger, but Vlad simply turned intangible, smiling evilly as he enjoyed seeing Danny suffer.

"Ah, seems I hit a soft spot," he relished. "Well Daniel, if you want to get physical, then I will by all means." The black rings formed around his waist, turning him into his ghostly self.

He immediately formed a large dark pink ball of ectoplasmic energy in his hands and shot it at Danny. He dived to get out of the way but his body was too weak to react quickly and it grazed his arm. Vlad laughed as he heard Danny gasp in pain and fall onto the floor.

"Daniel please, this is pointless. You can't even beat me when you're at full power, and now you expect to when you can't even use any of your powers? It doesn't have to be like this."

Danny grabbed an ecto-gun from a nearby table and shot it quickly at Vlad, who simply formed an ecto-shield, absorbing the blast.

"Daniel, I have the cure. We don't need to do this. I'll give it to you freely if you simply renounce your idiot of a father and come and live with me."

"Same old demands Vlad? Can't you think of something different?" Danny asked as he stood up with the help of the table while pulling something small out of his belt.

Vlad smiled. "I know what I want. Come on Daniel, it's not that hard of a choice. Your parents have already done all but shun you and you've even run away from home because of it. Why not live here, where you know you'll be cared for and never shunned. And you won't be alone. You're mother will be joining us soon as well."

"She'll never join with you," Danny spat.

"Well, we'll see. But what about you Daniel? Trade your unloving parents for me and the cure?"

"Or I can just beat you and take the cure while you're down."

Vlad laughed. "My dear boy, you haven't even been able to land a punch on me!"

"Maybe not yet…" he remarked softly as he pushed a button on the device and threw it at Vlad as he jumped behind a table. The device exploded, sending rays of ecto-blasts in every direction. Danny rose from behind the demolished table, smiling slightly as he saw Vlad trying to stand from the wreckage, his clothes singed.

"That…was one of your parents' inventions, wasn't it?" he asked as he stood, his eyes blazing red in anger. He obviously didn't expect to be hurt.

"What, you think I'd leave to fight you without some of my parents' weapons since I don't have any of my own? And you always said _I_ was the dumb one."

Vlad's eyes narrowed. He floated up into the air, three more Vlad's appearing at his side, their hands glowing dark pink.

His parents would be getting that signal real soon.

* * *

A/N: I know, I'm totally evil. But just think of it as a blessing, because it means that this chapter was able to be posted sooner becauseI didn't have to go through the pains of writing the actual battle!

And, if you're so obliged,I would really like for you guys to check out the summary for my new story on my profile called Secrets from the Past. I'm totally excited about it and now that The Beginning's finished I'll be posting it soon. So please tell me what you think!

Here's hoping it takes me less time to get the next chapter up (crosses fingers)!


	15. The Battle for the Cure

A/N: Halleluiah! Miracles do happen! So much for working late into the night last night finishing this up and then rereading it this morning and posting it before I went to work. No, fan fic had to be down and force me to wait until _after_ I finished work! takes deep calming breaths Oh well, the important thing is that it's up, right?

Alright, so the battle scene is up! Yay! And I don't mean to like boost my ego or anything, but I think it's one of the best action scenes I've ever written, especially since it consumes an entire chapter (and all of you should know that it really isn't stroking my ego because saying it's the best really doesn't mean much since I hate writing them so much!) But I finally worked through it and I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

And for the record, I think the fates were against me putting this chapter up. Not only because fan fic wouldn't let me download any documents, but because I always seemed to get really good inspiration when I was trying to sleep so I could wake up to go to work at six something (_not_ my hour of choice since any hour consisting of a single digit followed by the letters a and m is an unholy hour) or at work. Then I'd come home, and my inspiration would be shot until said hours. It was quite annoying. But, that's all in the past now!

Alright, here's a bad news good news announcement, without the good news. I'm going on vaca for ten days starting Thursday and I won't have internet. I'll have my laptop (when given time to use it) but no internet, so I won't be able to post.

This brings me to the next bit of bad news: for those of you who read A Secret Uncovered, at this point, it doesn't look like I'll be able to get it up before I leave. I know, I know, I'm really really sorry, but combined with work and an extremely massive writer's block I haven't had time to finish it or quite frankly get much further than a page (where the little niche that I need to work out resides). So, I'm going to try my hardest since I don't have much of tonight left and I may have some time tomorrow between packing, but realistically, I don't think it will be done. But I promise it'll be up the day I get back. I'm really really sorry and you all have permission to hate me forever and flame me to eternity, but that's just the way it is.

I really am sorry! Truly!

Enough of me blabbering, to the chapter that you've all been patiently waiting for!

* * *

Chapter Fifteen  
The Battle for the Cure

Danny jumped out of the way as three ecto-blasts scorched the ground he was just standing on. He landed onto the ground and immediately jumped again, avoiding another blast from a quick-reacting Vlad duplicate. He landed hard on the floor and rolled under a table, avoiding yet another blast. This was getting annoying. He didn't want to fly, since that would waste all his needed energy. He was saving it, for that nice clear shot when he could shoot Vlad down and grab the device. But the lack of flying was definitely putting him in harms way.

A frenzy of ecto-blasts demolished the table and Danny leapt out from under it, hiding behind an invention, an ecto-blast grazing his side.

"Daniel, this is getting ridiculous. Are you really planning on playing hide and go seek with me forever?" Vlad taunted as he shot at the cabinet. "Believe me, I have no problem destroying my lab to get to you. My only regret would be that the cure gets destroyed along with it."

Danny stayed behind the invention, knowing Vlad was bluffing. He wouldn't destroy the cure, since it was the only leverage he had. Danny for the cure, that was the promised bargain. If Vlad destroyed the cure, he'd destroy any chance of ever having Danny on his side, and as Vlad so accurately said, he knew what he wanted.

While behind the invention, Danny pulled out various devices he had stolen from the GAV before they entered the mansion. He wasn't going to hide forever, but he was going to make the most of it while he could.

Once Danny heard all three of the Vlad's shoot an ecto-blast at the invention he leapt up and, using their temporary distraction with their previous shot to his advantage, shot a blast from his mother's Fenton Lipstick at each Vlad, causing the two clones to disappear. He ducked back behind the invention to escape Vlad's wrathful blast.

Danny waited until Vlad finished, prepared to shoot him again, but when he leapt up and shot the blast, he found Vlad was no longer there.

"Fool, you think I'd really let you use that move again?" Vlad asked menacingly from behind Danny. Before Danny had a chance to leap over the invention Vlad shot him. He went flying through the invention and into the wall, hitting hard and sliding to the floor. Despite the pain, he jumped behind a table and tipped it over so he could hide behind it. With one had he held an ecto-gun behind him and with the other he prepared to shoot Vlad over the top again as he took deep breaths, trying to ignore the pain in his chest. He wasn't going to make the same mistake twice.

Sure enough, Danny hit Vlad once with the lipstick as the table exploded and turned immediately behind him and shot a blast from the gun, hitting Vlad as he teleported behind him. He ran instinctively, leaping to avoid another blast, which lead him straight into the wall, hitting his head, blacking out his vision for a brief moment. When his vision returned, he noticed a pink light heading towards him, with no time to leap out of the way. He instinctively held his hands in front of his face and turned his head sideways as he felt a sneeze leave his nose. He braced himself for the impact, but it never came. He turned his head back and noticed a glowing ecto-shield in front of him. Vlad glared down at him as Danny smiled, realizing that he just found the way to draw the battle out longer.

The shield fell and Danny jumped aside, hiding behind another table, waiting for another sneeze to come. And for once, he wouldn't point it away from people.

* * *

"Do we head down there?" Jazz asked as she gripped an ecto-gun. 

"No, not yet. We wait for Danny's signal," Maddie answered. Danny knew what he was doing and she didn't want to be responsible for blowing his plan. Still, the sounds of ecto-blasts and crashing objects didn't comfort her nerves, and she knew the rest of them were feeling the same way.

"I just don't like it. He's getting hurt and can't fight back, and we're just sitting up here, letting him," Jazz complained.

"I know, but we need to wait for his signal. Danny needs that device, and I don't want to screw up our chances of getting it."

Jazz solemnly nodded her head and went back to waiting, cringing every time she heard an ecto-blast that she knew wasn't coming from Danny.

* * *

Danny was out of options. All the tables in the lab had been destroyed and there was nothing left to hide behind. He was back to dodging blast after blast, having no time to shoot any back himself, with a weapon or a sneeze. He was tired, sore, and his skin burned where he had been hit with blast after blast in his attempt to dodge the hundreds of blasts Vlad continued to shoot out endlessly. 

Vlad seemed to sense that Danny was out of ideas and smiled, realizing his victory was soon at hand.

"Daniel, Daniel, Daniel. I must admit you've impressed me greatly, still putting up a strong defense even without your powers, but this is growing tiring. The amusement ends now."

He duplicated himself again, the three of them floating into the sky, hands glowing pink.

Danny started running, trying to dodge them, but with nothing to hide behind, it didn't last long. A blast hit him, sending him skidding across the slick lab floor. Another Vlad advanced on him and Danny knew he was doomed, until he sneezed, and found himself on the other side of the room as the three pink blasts scorched the spot he'd just left. While the Vlads stared at the spot in confusion and tried to figure out where he went, he summed up part of his saved energy and turned invisible, ready for what he knew was his last hurrah before the second front appeared.

"Blast! He somehow managed to go invisible!" Vlad cursed as his red eyes searched the room for his opponent.

Danny crept up behind them and summed up the last of his energy, shooting a large ecto-blast at the three of them, shoving them forcefully into the wall.

They pried themselves away from the wall and rounded on him while Danny ran, trying to escape the wrath. Again an ecto-blast finally hit him and he skid into Vlad's grasp. He sneered at him before throwing him across the room. He hit the wall and slid down, looking up at the three Vlads hovering over him.

"Let's see you pull off another miraculous escape," Vlad taunted as the three of them raised their glowing pink hands.

_Please sneeze _Danny begged _please sneeze. A shield, teleportation, intangibility, anything._ But nothing came. The three blasts hit him and he screamed, releasing the signal to his family, his eyes watering as all the pain and weariness from the battle collapsed upon him.

Then the pain stopped. Danny opened his eyes and saw Vlad against the wall, his chest smoking, the duplicates no where in sight. He turned his head and saw his parents standing in the doorway, ecto-guns still glowing, aimed at a very surprised Vlad. Tucker, Sam, and Jazz rushed over to him and picked him up, sheltering him behind them as they too raised their weapons at Vlad.

"Oh, did I forget to mention that when I ran away my parents came running after me?" Danny asked sarcastically as he beamed weakly at Vlad over his wall of support. Vlad's hand glowed dark pink, his protection adjusting the aim of their weapons in warning.

"If you so much as make one more move towards my son I promise you I will find a way to kill you," Maddie threatened, her eyes narrowed in hatred.

"Oh I'm absolutely terrified," Vlad mocked, though Danny could see that inside he was worried. They both knew that Maddie was not a force to be reckoned with, especially when angry. Danny smiled at Vlad's disappointed and surprised face. He was not expecting this.

"You should be, because I'm not joking. I have absolutely no problem killing you, Vlad Masters or not."

Vlad's face fell. He looked shocked, surprised, betrayed, lost.

"Oh yeah, and I also told them about you. Must've slipped my mind earlier as well. Whoops!"

Vlad looked pleadingly from Maddie to Jack, both of which continued to stare at him in loathing, not changing their expressions.

"Ma-Maddie listen please, you have to understand…" Vlad pleaded.

"There's nothing to understand. If you used your powers for good, then yes, we'd understand, like we did for Danny, but when you use them to harm our son and ruin our family, that crosses the line with leaps and bounds."

"You don't understand…"

"Oh I think we understand perfectly," Jack answered menacingly.

"Don't try to weasel your way out. We heard you talking to Danny upstairs. You created the virus that's making him sick. You were joyful when describing Danny's suffering. You were glad when you believed we had deserted him. You hurt him, even though he was weak. After all this time, tonight we've seen what you really are underneath your fake, genteel exterior; you're a monster."

Vlad opened and closed his mouth, unable to say anything in retaliation. Even from far away Danny could see that Vlad's eyes were tearing. As much as he hated to admit it, he did feel a little sad for Vlad. The only woman, and quite possibly the only person, he ever loved just called him a monster. But it was merely a passing feeling as the pain from the burns and cuts Danny sustained from the ecto-blasts throbbed in remembrance.

"Jack, old buddy…"

"Don't 'old buddy' me. Anyone who threatens my son is no buddy of mine. I agree with her," his father retorted, his voice crisp and threatening.

"Ma-Maddie…"

"Don't even. I don't want to hear it. I want you to hand over the cure and I'll let you go, for old times' sake. Then I never want to see or hear from you again, or I will kill you, understand?"

"I just can't do that Maddie," he answered with a sigh.

"Oh, and why not?" Maddie asked, venom dripping from every word.

"Because keeping it is the only way to win you back."

"Vlad, there is nothing in the world that can convince me to marry you," Maddie spat.

"What about your son's life?" Vlad asked, some of his gusto seeming to return. "That virus is fatal and if he doesn't receive the cure, he'll lose all his energy. But I'm willing to give him the cure, if you come live with me."

"You don't seem to understand the situation. Either you give us the cure, or we'll take it from you once you're dead. Either way, we get the cure."

"Ah, but that's if you can kill me."

"Like I said, I'll find a way."

"Maddie, I don't think you can. You won't let yourself."

Maddie charged up the ecto-gun. "Would you like to test that theory?"

"I'd love to, because you'd never–" Vlad started to taunt but was cut off by a blast hitting each shoulder, one each from Jack and Maddie.

Vlad's eyes glowed red as he floated off the ground. "I didn't want it to be this way," he lamented as he shot two ecto-blasts at Jack and Maddie. They both dived into opposite directions to dodge the blast, each of them rolling as they hit the floor (Jack rather clumsily) and rising into attack positions, shooting ecto-guns at Vlad, causing him to form an ecto-shield.

"Oh yes you did," Maddie responded as she jumped up and shot an over head shot at Vlad while Jack shot one from below, causing Vlad to get hit by Jack's as he deflected Maddie's. "You asked for it the moment you harmed our son!"

While the old college friends fought, Tucker, Sam, and Jazz stood around Danny, protecting him from the Vlad duplicate that they knew was going to eventually emerge while they watched in awe at their parents' ghost fighting skills, which were actually quite impressive.

Armed with their utility belts full of ghost weapons they threw as much as they could at Vlad, switching inventions faster than Danny could keep up, and it looked as if Vlad was having the same problem. Any time he tried to counter one weapon, his parents would simply pull out another one that would do the job, forcing him to either dodge or come up with some other quick method of protection. His parents worked as a flawless team, covering for each other, protecting each other, compensating for the flaws of the other.

Vlad shot a quick ecto-blast at Jack before teleporting behind Maddie, getting ready to shoot a blast at her as well. Maddie whipped around with her Fenton Machete, slicing Vlad across the thighs while Jack grabbed the ecto-blast with the Fenton Gauntlets and threw it back at Vlad. Before they could launch another teamed attack, Vlad teleported and reappeared across the room by the ceiling. He raised his hands and duplicated himself again, this time leaving four Vlads in the place of one. They all smiled evilly as two headed for Jack and  
Maddie, splitting the two of them up while the other two headed towards Danny and his friends.

Sam, Tucker, and Jazz pulled out their weapons and began shooting at the two Vlads flying towards them, managing to hit them a number of times, but their inexperience got the best of them and the Vlads quickly parted them, one of them grabbing Danny and throwing his weakened body against the wall while the other blocked his friends from hurrying to his rescue.

Vlad glared down at Danny and he realized he was in trouble. He was far too weak and in too much pain to pull any of his earlier stunts, and Vlad looked livid, wanting to punish Danny for allowing this to happen in the first place.

"Oh yes Danny, your punishment is here," Vlad threatened with a manic smile as his evil red eyes focused on Danny's green ones, showing Danny the pain he was going to be subjected to.

"Get away from him!" Maddie yelled as she tried to run over to Danny but the Vlad duplicate she was fighting held her off. She glared at him, punching and kicking him to release some of her anger and frustration while he turned intangible, only increasing Maddie's rage.

The Vlad in front of Danny ignored her, keeping his attention focused on Danny, the scapegoat for all his pain and depression. He picked Danny up easily and threw him against the wall, his arm still around his throat. Danny reached his arms up to his neck, trying to pry Vlad's strong grip apart, but he was just too weak.

Vlad smiled at his attempts. "This, Daniel, is for telling your parents," Vlad informed as he threw him into the wall again. "And this is for bringing them here," he added with another shove. He continued to pound him into the wall as it continued to dent further in, threatening to bust a hole through it.

Maddie stared in horror at the pain befalling her son, her eyes narrowing in anger. She ended her pointless attacks and back-flipped while pulling out an ecto-gun, shooting her Vlad clone while landing. Taken by surprise, the blast hit him, but Vlad's angered state seemed to fuel his power as he seemed relatively unfazed by the blast. Realizing she needed something stronger than a simple ecto-gun she shifted through her pockets while Vlad shot blasts at her. She dodged them with simple flips and jumps, still trying to locate a weapon to use against her former college friend.

She pulled out the Fenton Machete, twirling it with the grace of a Jedi master. She lunged at Vlad who quickly backed up out of the way of the dangerous glowing sword. Maddie continued to dash towards him, slicing the machete across his ghostly skin when he couldn't dodge fast enough, ectoplasm leaking out of his wounds. As she prepared to strike again, Vlad shot a blast at her, sending her to the wall, but her protective feelings towards her son wouldn't let such a simple wound faze her, even though it burned quite badly. Her son was experiencing worse. She lunged back at Vlad and continued the attack.

Meanwhile Jack ran towards Danny, seeing his son in pain. Vlad raised out of the floor in front of him to stop his progression but Jack merely threw him aside using the Fenton Gauntlets and continued running. Vlad recovered in the air and flew straight into Jack's side, shoving him out of the way and into the wall. He backed up and shot an ecto-blast at him before he had a chance to dodge it.

"You don't know how long I've wanted to do this," Vlad taunted to Jack.

Jack's eyes narrowed in response and he flicked his wrist out, the Jack-A-Nine-Tails spreading out from his hand and wrapping around Vlad, electrocuting him. "And I've wanted to do that since Danny told us about you in the car ride here!"

Vlad growled and burst through the ropes binding him, flying after Jack, shoving him forcefully into the wall. Jack shook his head clear and grabbed Vlad by the shoulders, throwing him across the room before trying to run back to Danny, but Vlad flew under the ground and extended an arm out from under the floor, tripping Jack, causing him to slide across the lab floor.

Jazz, Tucker, and Sam pulled out their weapons and held their ground, shooting at Vlad as he dodged the blasts in the air, returning some of his own at them, causing them to occasionally break their circle to dodge the blasts.

"Alright, that does it," Jazz muttered as she stood up after leaping to avoid yet another blast, wincing from landing on her broken arm. She pulled out the Fenton Peeler and activated it as the metal spread up her arm and covered her body. She looked evilly at Vlad and started shooting, while Vlad dodged them. Tucker and Sam joined in shooting Vlad near where Jazz was shooting, knowing that Vlad would avoid being hit by the Peeler at all costs and wouldn't be focusing on avoiding the blasts as much.

Meanwhile Vlad dropped Danny to the ground. Green ectoplasm was dripping out of his mouth from the continued contact with the wall and he looked barely conscious. Vlad backed up, his face radiating pure joy at seeing Danny's pain and misery.

"And this, this is just for being alive," he threatened as he held his hands up and shot a continuous ecto-blast at Danny, causing him to scream in pain again, but not having any power to do anything to stop it.

The rest of his family heard the scream and doubled their efforts to attack their Vlad counterparts, but Vlad was too strong in his anger and knew their fighting styles too well, able to counter almost any attack.

As Jazz fired a shot from the Peeler, angered that Vlad once again dodged it, she realized that she had a clear shot at the Vlad distracted with Danny's torture. Taking careful aim she shot him in the back. He ceased Danny's torture and started screaming as he was peeled apart, slowly vanishing.

The Vlad attacking the trio realized his mistake and pelted at Jazz before Tucker and Sam could react, throwing her hard into the wall. Her head hit the back of the metallic body suit and she lost consciousness, the armor retracting back into the weapon. As Vlad approached her, Tucker and Sam stood protectively in front of her and started shooting with ecto-guns again, hoping to keep him busy and away from the Fenton siblings.

Danny opened his eyes and noticed the battle around him. Everyone was burned and bruised and although the Vlads looked worn down, their hatred and anger still burned within them, making them stronger, feeding their rage. He had to do something.

Danny used part of the wreckage to stand and walked slowly over to a group of cupboards, searching in them, looking for the cure. He knew it most likely wasn't in such a low security area, but he at least had to look. He threw out the contents of the cabinets, looking for the cure, but no luck. As he leaned into another cabinet, searching for a hidden vial he sneezed, turning intangible and falling through the cabinet and into the wall. Cursing the irony of the cold for not working before when he needed it he decided to head out of the wall, just incase his intangibility stopped working. As he turned around, he noticed something at the end of the hidden cavern. It was a beaker, filled with a very familiar looking powder, one he had seen many times under the microscope. A mischievous smile crossed his face as he knew exactly what to do with it and how to end this battle.

He walked out of the wall, beaker in hand. "Hey Vlad!" he yelled, attracting the attention of the remaining three Vlads as well as his family. "Let's hope you enjoy being subjected to punishment as much as you like dishing it out." He threw the beaker and shot it with an ecto-gun when it was at the peak of its arch. The glass shattered and the powder spread out all over the room.

"What? No!" Vlad shouted, realizing what Danny had just done. Two of the clones disappeared, leaving Vlad alone in the room, looking about dejectedly before he lost consciousness, falling to the floor and reverting back to his human self, which caused Maddie and Jack to jump, his transformation living proof that their friend had just tried to kill them all.

Danny rushed over to Jazz, throwing himself near her. "Jazz? Are you alright? Answer me!"

"Danny, she's fine, don't worry. Just a little bump on the head. She'll be fine. Go get that cure," Sam explained.

He nodded his head and limped over to Vlad, fishing through his pocket, removing the Plasmius Maximus and a small vial of bright blue liquid.

"Is that…the cure?" Maddie asked as she beheld the object they fought so hard and long to obtain.

"Yeah, this is it," Danny answered, leaning on the shards of a table for support. "Alright, here's what we need to do. We need to search this lab and destroy all possible notes or formulas on how to create the cure or the powder. I don't want him recovering from this quickly."

"There's no we in this Danny. You drink that cure and then lie down somewhere to get some sleep. We'll find everything; we know where Vlad likes to hide stuff."

Danny nodded his head and sat on the floor next to Jazz, propped against the wall. He uncorked the vial and drank the tasteless cure, feeling a slight tingle down his throat, like a carbonated beverage. He felt the tingle extend throughout his body as the cure neutralized the powder inside his cells. The feeling started to fade, as did the world around him. He felt the white rings formed around his waist, changing him back to his human form. Then he blacked out into blissful sleep, human again.

* * *

A/N: Just a quick note of interest: if anyone's wondering why Danny would actually feel sorry for Vlad, I didn't want to make Danny seem ruthless about enjoying Vlad's misery, even though I do. I think Danny's above that and I think one of his greatest strengths is having that generally good and caring nature that won't let him feel that ruthless towards people, no matter who they are. I don't know if that's true or not, but that's at least the way I see him. Personally, I'm not as righteous as Danny and I totally enjoy seeing Vlad suffer for what he's done, but that's just me.

Oh, and if anyone knows the name of the glove things that Jack uses in Million Dollar Ghost (if it has a name, which my resources says it doesn't) could you please let me know so I can change it? I called them theGhost Gauntlets, becauseI think that's what they're called, but I'm not really sure if that's right. Anywho, if you do know the real name, please let me know! Thanks!

One chapter left! Ahhhhh!


	16. All He Could Ask For

A/N: I don't want it to end! You can't make me end it! No! I won't! This has been too much fun! Oh well, I guess that's what sequels are for, which brings me to my big announcement. 

I present to you, the sequel to Tortured Truth: Tortured Revenge! It is now posted! So, for those of you who enjoyed this, please feel free to check out the sequel! It's going to be good, I promise! Again, **the sequel, Tortured Revenge, is now posted!**

I have to say that this chapter took forever to write. It was really hard to end it, partially because I didn't want to, but it was just really hard to write. Hence it taking so long. But think of the bright side, you'll never have to wait for me to update this story again! (must not cry, must not cry, must…not…cry)

And thank you guys so so so much for all your reviews and support of this story, especially the last chapter! I got almost 60 reviews for the last chapter alone, so thank you guys so so much! I can't even begin to tell you how loved that makes me feel. You guys are awesome and deserve all the thanks in the world! So thank you! And one special thank you to SummerSixEcho for her support and helping me with the ending!

Alright, my traditional final last rant about the story. This story started out as a day dream I had while stuck in traffic on the way to my friend's house. It wouldn't get out of my head, so I started writing it. Then I found fan fic and after reading a few I decided "what the heck?" and posted mine and was absolutely astounded by the response it received. To this day I still can't believe that it blossomed to be this big! Of course, as the popularity blossomed, so did the story. It was originally just my view on the way I thought Danny's parents would find out and what would happen, but I soon realized that there was a lot more to the story than just the revelation. In fact, there was enough to write an entire fic about it! So I expanded the original plot to include the powder and Vlad's plot, all the while tying it back to how the plot would compliment the real plot, which was the revelation and the stages Danny's parents needed to go through before they could fully and completely accept him. I won't lay them out because hopefully the story and this chapter especially will for me. But I just thought that while most authors (including myself) only do a little when it comes to the revelation because there's more to focus on in the story, I wanted one that focused solely on the revelation and explored everything, and I hope this story did exactly that.

And now, the conclusion to my first ever fan fic. Tear. I'm so sad to see my baby go!

* * *

Chapter Sixteen  
All He Could Ask For

Danny woke up, feeling like he had a cement block on his chest. He felt so heavy and dense, but that was probably to be expected since he'd been generally weightless for the past few days. The utter exhaustion and feelings of soreness and pain probably didn't help either.

The GAV was silent save for the occasional snore or mutter from his father. He peered around and noticed that everyone was asleep around him except for his mother who was concentrating on the road. He pushed himself into a sitting position and finally managed to stand, feeling the burdens of gravity. He walked slowly and awkwardly to the front seat, his legs aching with every step. Flopping down onto the chair, he looked out the window, seeing the familiar blue eyes staring back at him, the black of his hair fading into the black background of the window. He smiled, glad to see the blue, after so long of seeing the ghostly green when he happened to glance at his reflection. He was human now. They'd accomplished their goal. They'd found the cure.

"Well it's good to see the bright blue eyes staring back," Maddie commented as she looked over at her son. "Not that I don't like the green ones," she added quickly "it's just…"

"No, believe me, it's good to see the blue eyes in the mirror," Danny replied with a smile. "I was definitely starting to miss them."

"I think we all were," his mother answered as she smiled fondly. "So, have a good sleep?"

"Yes, but it wasn't nearly long enough. I feel so heavy and tired."

"Well, it should go away soon, once you get used to gravity again. Although, I'm sure it's a welcome feeling."

"Strangely enough, it is."

"And before you ask we did find Vlad's notes for how to create the powder and the cure and they're in the back of the GAV, along with anything needed to make them and the Plasmius Maximus."

"Why'd you take that?"

"So Vlad couldn't use it on himself, and so we can study it, but that was just an added bonus," his mother replied with a smile.

Danny nodded as he yawned, knowing that he should have realized that his parents would want to take it out of curiosity alone.

"Danny, you should get back to bed. You're probably still tired and need to rest."

"But what about you? I'd feel bad leaving you alone up here."

"Nonsense. I'm perfectly fine on my own. Plus, if I wanted company, I'd wake up your father or your sister. You deserve to rest more than they do. Now get to bed!"

Danny smiled and kissed his mother on the cheek before heading back to the only bed in the RV, falling asleep almost immediately.

* * *

"Danny, wake up!" Jazz yelled as she shook him awake. "Something's wrong!"

Danny sat up quickly, opening his eyes as he looked at Jazz's worried face. Everyone else was towards the front, staring at something out the front window.

"What's going on?"

"It's the city, there's something bad going on."

"The invasion!" Danny yelled as he leapt up and ran towards the front, phasing through his family to get a better view out the window. He saw a few ghosts flying over the top of the city and a few blasts of green light.

"What invasion?" Jazz asked as she joined them.

"I totally forgot about it! I heard it on the radio while I was in the Bakers' truck. A bunch of ghosts must have known that I was gone and decided to ransack the town and what's worse is that since I wasn't there to stop it, they think that _I'm_ the one responsible!"

"Well, there's only one solution then," Sam stated. "Get out there and stop the invasion. They can't say you planned it if you stop it."

"But Danny, are you rested enough?" Maddie asked.

"Rested enough or not, I've got to stop it."

"Alright then. Jazz, take the wheel and drive us through town. Jack, Tucker, and Sam, ready the weapons. Danny, you head out and we'll follow," Maddie ordered.

"I can't fight with you guys. In the eyes of the rest of the city, you still hunt me."

"Well, that changes now. From today and onward, the Fentons work _with_ Danny Phantom. Now get out there and start fighting. We'll join you in a few minutes."

Danny nodded his head and transformed into his ghost self, feeling weird to willingly go back to his ghost form after wanting to be out of it for so long. He flew out of the GAV and into the city, thermos in hand.

On the outskirts of the city, he saw two ghosts pestering a group of teenagers. He flew down at them, blasting them with ecto-blasts, sending them against the wall. He sucked them up with the thermos before heading on through the city as the teens cheered in gratitude. Their savior had returned.

* * *

Danny was inside the city, blasting, kicking, and sucking up as many ghosts as he could. Most of them were easy and didn't put up much of a fight, but some of them were a lot more time consuming, like the Lunch Lady or Johnny 13.

His family was in the GAV ahead of him, speeding through the streets while Jack and Maddie waged war from inside, shooting off all the various ghost weapons attached to it, weakening the ghosts so Danny could easily suck them up in the thermos.

They continued to drive in circles around the city, capturing as many ghosts as they could before they headed to the park, the central hub of the ghost invasion.

Before Danny reached the park, he was shot down by a purple blast. He caught himself in the air and turned around to face Valerie, preparing for another shot.

"Here to examine your work?" Valerie mocked as she shot off another blast.

Danny created an ecto-shield, absorbing the blast. "No way! I'm here to save it!"

"A likely story. I know you're the one behind this. If you were really here to save it then why'd it take you so long to come?"

"If I was really responsible for it why would I come at all?" Danny retorted.

"To make yourself look good in the eyes of the people. You're pulling the classical 'set up the attack and then conveniently save them when all hope is lost' trick."

Danny sighed. "Whatever, I've given up trying to argue with you. I need to get to the park."

"No way am I letting you get there. I've spent all day looking for you and now you're going to pay!"

"You mean instead of fighting the ghosts and stopping the invasion?" Danny asked as he heard an explosion from the direction of the park. "Wow, what a wonderful use of your time," he retorted angrily. So much for thinking that Valerie had at least taken care of some of the invasion while he was gone.

Valerie glared at him. "Don't tell me what's important and what's not! It was a perfectly valid use of my time! Cut off the head of the leader, the operation falls to pieces."

"First, I don't think there really is an operation here, since the ghosts are just attacking in chaos, and secondly, I'm not the leader!"

"That's what you want me to think."

"Listen, if you want to save the town then help stop the ghost invasion. That's what they really need right now. Or you can continue to try to fight me and ignore all the other ghosts while I alone save the day. Take your pick. The Fentons already did; they're at the park."

"Fine, but you stay after so I can finish you!"

"Sure," Danny lied sarcastically before flying off, heading towards the park to meet up with his family while Valerie hesitated before flying unhappily after him.

Jazz spun the GAV around a corner, parking in front of the park. Jack and Maddie hopped out of it, ecto-guns ready, blasting the ghosts into a group so Maddie could shoot them all with the Fenton Bazooka, sending them back into the Ghost Zone. Jazz drove off, continuing to sweep around the park in the GAV while Tucker and Sam took over the weapon controls.

"Where's Danny?" Maddie asked as she shot another group with the Fenton Bazooka. "He should be here by now."

"I don't know. He might have gotten held up on another tough ghost. He should be fine," Jack comforted, whipping his Jack-A-Nine-Tails at another ghost. "He's a tough kid and a better ghost fighter than we ever could be."

Maddie nodded as she kicked at a ghost before shooting it with an ecto-gun. As she was about to shoot another blast, the ghost was enveloped in blue light and sucked away. She turned in the direction of the light and saw Danny.

"About time!" she yelled.

"Trouble," Danny responded as he gestured towards Valerie who was approaching on her jet sled.

"Is she here to attack you or the ghosts?"

"Who knows," Danny replied as he flew off towards a group of ghosts, weakening them with ecto-blasts before sucking them into the thermos.

As he proceeded, he saw a familiar figure ahead of him, looking like he was enjoying the destruction surrounding him. Anger pulsed through Danny as he saw the flaming green hair, the shining metallic body suit reflecting off the sunlight. Suddenly, he realized who the organizer of the invasion was, the one who planned it all, the one who knew that Danny would be helpless to stop the invasion, the one who made it impossible for Danny to stop it in the first place. He charged towards him, hitting him in the back and sending him to the floor. He turned around, prepared to shoot at the figure that pushed him but lowered his arm in shock.

"Gh-Ghost Child? You're back? And with control of your powers?"

"Yeah. Weren't expecting that, were you?" he asked maliciously as he shot an ecto-blast at him.

"Look Ghost Child, don't blame me for the powder," Skulker pleaded as he started backing up, seeing the anger in Danny's eyes. "That was Plasmius' idea."

"And what did he offer you in return other than my pelt? Permission to attack the city? Or did you just decide to take advantage of the fact that I wasn't able to do anything so you spread the word to all the ghosts in the Ghost Zone?"

Skulker's eyes darted left and right, hoping to find some back up or means of escape from the Ghost Boy's wrath, but nothing presented itself.

"Face it Skulker, even if you weren't responsible for the powder, which by the way I still blame you for, you spurred the invasion, and for that alone you deserve punishment. You'll be praying for the thermos before I'm done with you," Danny threatened as he blasted another ecto-blast at Skulker.

He flew at him, punching him, kicking him, throwing him, inflicting as much pain as he could to make up for all the pain he felt while he was sick. All the emotion and rage he was never able to express against Vlad translated to Skulker. The rage he felt from being subjected to the disease, the awkwardness he felt from being stuck as a ghost, the shame he felt from hurting his family, the sadness he felt from being forced to run away all fell upon Skulker through Danny's fists as they fought.

As Danny continued to punch Skulker, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"I think you got him," his mother stated gently.

"But…"

"I know you want to punish him, but we've got a lot more ghosts to take care of."

Danny sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He dropped Skulker who simply dropped to the floor, unable to move. Danny pulled out the thermos, gave Skulker a final kick, and then sucked him up in the thermos.

"Come on. Jazz and the others are already on the move."

Danny nodded and flew off, heading through the city, cleansing it of the ghosts.

After a few hours of battle the city was finally purified of ghosts and Danny and his family returned victorious to the house. They threw their gear on the floor and headed upstairs, ready to sleep for hours after all the drama that had occurred over the past few days.

* * *

Danny walked through the door, returning from his first day of school in over two weeks. It had been a remarkably enjoyable day, since he'd been out of school for so long, and it felt good to finally be doing something normal again.

As he walked into the living room he heard the news reporter on the television. "Finally, everything is back to normal in Amity after the ghost infestation a few days ago. Businesses are back open and the majority of the lighter damage is fixed with the heavier renovation already started. People are free to roam the streets again and carry on with their daily business thanks to, remarkably, the Fentons, the mysterious Red Hunter, and of course, Danny Phantom, whose loyalty and involvement in the invasion still remains in question."

Danny groaned and was about to shut the television off, as he normally did when the reports drifted to him, when he heard his parents yell from the basement.

"Danny wait! Don't turn the television off! We have a surprise for you!" his father yelled as he stormed into the living room.

"A surprise? That has to do with the TV?"

"Just watch. It should be on right now."

"And in a surprising interview today, Jack and Maddie Fenton released what exactly happened during the invasion and why it took so long for help to arrive. Here's a recording of the interview."

The television changed to a picture of his parents in ghost hunting attire standing outside FentonWorks.

"Well we had left at the beginning of the assault to find and punish Danny Phantom, whom we of course believed had been responsible for this invasion," his mother spoke into the microphone as Danny looked evilly at her.

"Just wait, I'm not done talking yet," his mother reprimanded as she gestured towards the television.

"But upon finding him we discovered that he was in reality stopping the true leader of the invasion…"

"The Wisconsin Ghost known as Vlad Plasmius!" Jack interrupted.

"…and is indeed a hero, like he'd always proclaimed. We helped him stop the leader and then headed straight back to Amity as fast as we could to stop it."

"What about the Red Hunter? Why'd it take so long for her to act?"

"We don't know as we weren't here, but I assume she focused on hunting the Ghost Boy instead of the other ghosts, like she always does.

"But I would like to take this opportunity to announce a truce created on the way to Amity between us and Danny Phantom. We have agreed to no longer hunt Danny Phantom and will instead help him rid the city of the rest of the ghosts, as we should have been doing from the beginning. Thank you."

Jack and Maddie turned away from the press while they flooded them with shocked questions. Jack flipped off the screen and smiled down on Danny.

"Now you don't need to worry about us hunting you."

"Thanks Dad, and Mom. I really appreciate it."

"Well what did you expect us to do? Still hunt you but just be really bad at it? No way. We're going to help you and that means both in clearing your name and fighting ghosts."

"How was going back to school?" Jack asked.

"Strange. I have homework, which is so weird after not having it in so long. It feels really weird to be doing normal stuff after so much…abnormal stuff has happened, but it's definitely a welcome feeling."

"Yeah, we hear you," his mother responded "but I guess that's just the way our life is, huh?"

"Yup. But you know, I don't think I'd have it any other way."

"Neither would we," his mother added with a smile. "Now, I think you should get upstairs and do your homework while you have free time."

Danny nodded his head, and as he turned to head upstairs, he heard his mother call after him.

"Danny. I love you."

"Yeah, I love you son," his father added.

Danny smiled. He knew what they meant by saying those three simple words. They meant so much more to him than they used to. Not only did they convey the love they felt for him, but they were also a reassurance and a promise. They assured him that they loved him, ghost and all, and they promised him that they always would. "I love you too," he answered and he continued up the stairs.

Heading upstairs to his room, he sat down and started on the first homework he'd had in a long time. It took him at least ten minutes of mental preparation just to settle his mind down enough to concentrate and to readjust himself to the dullness of doing homework again before he could even get started.

Twenty minutes later, Danny felt fairly proud of himself. He had done a fair amount of problems, given the fact that he'd been missing from school and out of the homework loop for over two weeks. His concentration was shot, however, when his sister knocked on the door and entered.

"You know, what is the point of knocking if you're just going to come right in anyways?"

"So you have a two second heads up?" Jazz joked as she sat on Danny's bed.

"It really starts to make me wonder how I was ever able to keep my ghost powers a secret in the first place with you barging in all the time."

"Technically you didn't keep them a secret for very long before I found out. And afterwards I just gave you more time, just in case."

"What do you want?" Danny asked, jumping to the point. He had a horrible suspicion as to what she wanted to talk about.

"We need to talk, about the past two weeks." Danny opened his mouth to retort but Jazz cut him off. "I know you don't want to, but we need to. Mom and Dad seem to be under the same illusion as you that everything can just be left alone and forgotten and maybe that is the best way for them, but you can't just forget about it. That won't do anything."

"Forget about what? There's nothing to talk about," Danny retorted as he turned around in his chair, facing Jazz.

"No, I think there is," Jazz responded as she pulled out the letter Danny left the day he ran away. "You said a lot of stuff in this letter. I didn't think it would be a good thing to discuss it before, but I think now's a good time."

He should have known she'd be bringing up the letter, and everything that had to do with it. So much for thinking that it would just be left forgotten and they'd just move on. That may work for his parents, but that's just too easy for his psychologically obsessed sister.

Jazz, taking Danny's silence as acceptance sighed, ready to dive into the speech she had been practicing for the past two days. She even neglected studying to prepare this, which made her feel really horrible during class, but she felt better as she told herself that her brother was more important than her schoolwork.

"About the accident…"

"Wow, that didn't take long to get to."

Jazz glared at him. "I need to know if you're all right, and I don't want some half truth answer like you were supplying us before you ran away. I want the real answer."

"I'm okay." Jazz's glare, if possible, intensified. "No really. Remember that girl Alison? Well, we talked while driving through the Dakotas, and I'm actually okay. I mean, I still feel guilty and any time I see your arm or Sam's leg or downstairs I feel really bad and the memories come back, but I've kinda accepted it. Alison helped me to realize that accidents do happen, and it could've ended up worse."

Jazz smiled. "That was exactly what we were trying to tell you."

"I know."

"But I'm glad it finally got through your thick head, even if it took some pretty blonde to get it through there."

"Hey, are you trying to comfort me or insult me, 'cause right now I'm not really sure."

"A little bit of both," Jazz responded with a smirk. "Well, that was easier than I thought. I guess I spent last night memorizing that whole page worth of reassurance as to how we still loved you and didn't care for nothing."

"Memorized? You wrote all this out and _memorized_ it?" Danny asked in shock. The lengths his sister went through never ceased to amaze and scare him.

Jazz blushed. "I wanted to make sure I covered everything, and I'm much more eloquent on paper."

Danny shook his head. "You're a nerd."

"I know. Now, remember Mom's threat about how she'll ground you under a ghost shield if you ever run away again?"

"How could I possibly forget? I generally make a point to try and remember threats made against me."

"Good, then you'll remember this one. If I _ever_ hear you say _anything_ about wishing you never had ghost powers or imagining what would or wouldn't happen if you didn't have ghost powers, I will carry the Ghost Gabber around with me inside a mini ghost shield for the rest of my life and it'll repeat everything you say. And while you might just try to stay away from me, you can't avoid me forever, and that thing has a wide range."

"Okay, point noted. But why such a harsh punishment?"

"Danny, I don't know if you realize this, but getting your ghost powers is the best thing that ever happened to you, no matter what happens because of them. Don't interrupt me," Jazz reprimanded as Danny opened his mouth. "I worked really hard on this paragraph and I'm not going to let you ruin it. Now, from the moment I found out about your ghost powers I realized how important they were not only for the town and the safety of the people, but for you. Look at everything they've done for you. They've given you confidence, courage, a sense of purpose, dedication. You're not just the boy who was too lazy to do all his work and got shoved in a locker anymore. You're a hero. You're brave and strong and it's because of your ghost powers. They unlocked your hero side from inside you, gave you a way to show it to everyone. And even though the people don't always show it, you're admired and looked up to and people want and need you. Tucker and Sam realized this, which is why they'll give up everything and do anything just to be there for you and to help you. And now, Mom and Dad realize this too because they see all the things that we've seen. You wouldn't be Danny Fenton without your ghost powers."

Danny sat silently, processing his sisters' comments. She was right of course. She always was when it came to this kind of stuff. Sure it would be easier without the ghost powers and all the trauma that had just happened over the past two weeks wouldn't have occurred, but again, Jazz was right.

"Well?" Jazz asked, expecting him to have an immediate comment.

"How long did it take you to write this?"

"A good two hours."

"It's really cheesy." He turned intangible as Jazz threw a pillow at him.

"But do you get what I'm saying?"

"Yeah."

"And do you promise?"

"Yeah, I promise."

"Good. Because suffering a few broken bones and losing a wall is nothing compared to what you'd lose if you got rid of your ghost powers."

"You forgot about the tv."

Another smile graced Jazz's lips. "Alright, on to Mom and Dad."

"Geez how many points are you going to bring up?"

"A few."

"So, what about them?"

"How do you feel about them knowing?"

"Did you write that down in your speech too?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Did you write 'wait for response' after it?"

"Danny, this is serious. I talked to Tucker and Sam and they told me about your fears of them finding out."

Danny muttered something that sounded remarkably like "Traitors" before answering. "I'm fine. Actually, I'm more than fine. Minus the torture part it went better than I ever could have imagined it to go. Then again I always imagined it with me on a lab table with Mom and Dad standing over me with a scalpel, but you get the idea."

"And do you still feel ashamed about being a ghost around them? Mom told me," she answered quickly as Danny glared at her.

"God, how many people did you interview when you wrote this?"

"Just answer the question," Jazz replied exasperatedly.

"Not as much as before. I do have to say that one good thing that came out of that stupid powder was that being a ghost twenty-four-seven sure fixed that one."

"That's what I had hoped. Now, I know that it'll still be awkward between the three of you. You know that Dad especially will want to test out his inventions on you and the only reason he hasn't yet is because I bribed him with cookies, and Mom will do it too, but she'll sneak it in. And they'll want to help you all the time to make up for all the times they didn't."

"Yeah, I know. But, I'm ready. It's a small price to pay. At least I don't have to keep it a secret from everyone anymore."

"Exactly." Jazz took a deep breath. "Well, that went really well, don't you think?"

"Yeah, it was definitely one of your better attempts at sibling bonding, unlike that bowling incident."

"Hey, if you just used the physics and geometry like I told you your score would improve dramatically and you wouldn't have lost to me as much as you did."

"Yeah well it's hard to learn when your sister is trying to teach you and showing you how to swing in a public place."

"That's not what made it unpleasant. It was because you were jealous of my high score."

"Was not."

"Was too."

"Was _not_."

"Was _too_."

"Fine, then I demand a rematch. You'll see that I can have a good time bowling if you're not teaching me."

"Alright, but you can't use your ghost powers."

"Why not?"

"Because that's cheating. And plus, how else are we going to prove that it's not just the fact that you'll be winning that's making you cheerier? And it'll be a public place."

"Not if we go to Sam's. And hers is free."

"No chance. It needs to be public to keep the other variables constant."

"See, that's what makes bowling with you unlikable. Bowling isn't science, it's fun."

"Science is…never mind. Anything else you want to talk about?"

"Considering that I didn't want to have this conversation in the first place?" Jazz sighed. "No, I'm good, honestly."

"Alright. Well, I'll let you get back to your homework."

"'Kay."

Jazz stood up and kissed Danny on the forehead before walking to the door, but before she closed it she turned around and looked at Danny. "Oh, and the part in the letter about me being your best friend?"

"Oh, you didn't think that was actually true, right? I was just, you know, caught in the moment."

"Of course," Jazz answered as she shut the door.

Danny sat down to look at his homework but found he couldn't concentrate anymore. Jazz's conversation left a lot of thoughts running through his head concerning the two weeks he'd been trying to forget. She was right, he wouldn't be able to forget them, and trying to wasn't accomplishing anything. He could pretend they weren't there, but one of these days he had to come to terms with it, so why not now? It would save him the effort of trying to pretend they weren't there.

Everything just seemed like such a jumbled dream. It was mixed up in his mind: the goo, the torture, the conversations with his parents, the powder, running away, the Bakers, Vlad, the invasion. It all seemed so far away and yet so close at the same time, like it happened years ago but also minutes ago.

He tried to shift through it all and get to the smallest point possible. His parents had found out and didn't care. Really, everything had emanated from there. The way Danny dealt with the pain from the torture, the realization of his half-dead state, the reemergence of his possible future, the powder, the disease that caused him to remain stuck as a ghost, the embarrassment that came from being stuck, the damage, the shame from hurting his family and friends, the guilt, the battle for the cure, the invasion, all of it involved his parents' help, and he never would have been able to deal with any of it without them. It all hinged on the fact that his parents had found out.

And yet after everything, they still loved him. They still loved him after finding out about his powers, still loved him after finding out he was the ghost boy, still loved him after finding out about his future, still loved him after witnessing all his ghostly attributes, still loved him even though he was stuck as a ghost. They conquered their hate of ghosts, their desire to experiment on them, and their feelings of discrimination all for him. All the events in those two weeks broke down all the barriers between Danny and his parents and they truly loved and accepted him for who and what he was, totally and completely.

He happened to notice that he was staring at the clock on his nightstand and smiled as it reminded him of Clockwork and what he had told him the night he visited them. He had told him that his parents finding out would be the best thing that ever happened to him, and he was right. Now that his parents knew, things couldn't get any worse, they could only get better because he knew that his parents were with him and ready to help him. He could handle anything.

He leaned back in his chair as he heard his mother calling him from downstairs, telling him that dinner was ready, just like normal. But as Danny hopped up from the chair and started walking down the stairs he realized it was better than normal. His parents were calling him down to the table knowing and not caring that he was a ghost, and he couldn't ask for anything better.

* * *

The sound of a doorbell rang throughout the space, startling the dozing figure in front of the television. The door was opened to reveal a package sitting on the floor with a note attached.

_For the perfect revenge on the one you hate the most._

The recipient opened the package and smiled with wicked satisfaction, picturing a white haired green eyed ghost writhe in pain from the glorious surprise in the mysterious package.

The End

* * *

A/N: And for those of you who are eagerly awaiting the sequel after this teasing epilogue (man, I can't even end a story without a cliffie...), it's here! It's now posted, so please check it out!

Special thanks to all my reviewers!

darkflame1516, Missmeliss4251, phantomshadowdragon, epobbp, AirGirl Phantom, crazyvi, SummersSixEcho, The Sleep Warrior, kdm 13, Coalar Lee Drake, DanPhantom, dArkliTe-sPirit, Kairi7, Punker88, werewulf, animekitty47, Firehedgehog, Horseluver101, Inumaru12, My Eternal Façade, Sparky the Wonder Weasel, Catmedium, cheesebot12, littlekittykat, Ohka Breynekai, PhantomKat7, Samantha-Girl Scout, The Kirby Emerald, TheGhostHybrid, DiscordianSamba, Halfa-NariMaruko, Horselvr4evr123, iloveJesusJohnnyandDanny, KatrinaKaiba, Moss Royal, Mysterious Prophetess, PhantomAlchemist, Risika135, Sesshy'sWoman, ChicaDeDanny, kenji's girl, Leppers, Lt. Commander Richie, Ratiosu, The Sole Survivor, Warrior of Winds, xheartkreuzx, DP-shrine-in-closet-girl, Gamma Jack Plasmius, himegimiofdragons, Jenna Dax, Kagome lover, katiesparks, Mako-Magic, ohiowriter, Phantom of a Rose, purpledog100, Silent Elegy, soccergurl1990, Super E-Man, Tamiara, The Great Suskino, Weber's Cage, X-Roosterrelli-X, yosei11, Zuzanny, alcohol daydream, Anonimous, Anonomys Advice, Aqua91, book-a-holic101, captain deoxys, Crazy Billie Joe Loving Freak, Danaphantom, Dani Tonfen, dannyphantomfanaticandDxSshipper, dAnnysGiRl777, DeeDeeBo, definenormalAB, dragonghostgirl, DragonSword35d, e.d., ED'sGirl 4ever, egyptianqueen777, Elvenangler17, Fade, Fade B., Fan-Fic-CC27, Ghost-Wolf676, Goldwulf, Guest, hammy ham ham, Himig, HKPMKEJOSGOLV, Hunter097, ilikedan, Itallia, Jenny30906, Jerrac, Just Call me Crazy, kat, Kenna, kingman, LatinWolfDemon, Le Dizzle, leilanisangel, Linkmaste, livinglife, Liz, LokiWaterDraca, MattsLittleSister, Mechanical-Panda, mimiru1618, Miss Selarne, mysterygal02, Nic's Nefarious Drawing Pad, Olivia Solar, opal, Phantom2B, phantomdog, Phantomgirl040304, phoenix wanderer, Pterodactyl, purrbaby101, Ramuk, Rebel Thief Lava Wolf Cooper, Rob Phantom, Sakurako Minase, Samantha Seldowitz, sandra, sarah-sama, Sasha Jeanne, shadow walker, Shadow49, Shimegami-chan, silvermoonphantom, Skigrl, Sleep Warrior, Team Graecisso, toontownwiz, Torgi Frin, Truth91920, Twilight Princess, ur1crazedupfruitloop, Velkan the Impaler, Wing Dancer, wolfcrossbreed, WolfDaughter, Writer's-BlockDP, WWMTgirl, Zarmina, Zarz, Zeva Lobo


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